The most complete Apollo photobook ever published
Get your hands on the definitive Apollo photobook
The revised and extended edition builds on the original’s stunning photography with newly discovered panoramas, candid astronaut portraits, and refined restorations of classic images. Expanded captions offer deeper context, while two exclusive astronaut contributions enrich the narrative: Walter Cunningham’s personal reflections from Apollo 7 and a new foreword by Apollo 9’s Rusty Schweickart. More than a photobook, it is a cultural artifact that captures the moment humanity first left Earth, and looked back.
When astronauts became photographers, history became art
Between 1968 and 1972, the Apollo astronauts captured more than 27,000 photographs on 70mm film: an extraordinary visual record of humanity’s first steps beyond Earth.
Armed with specially modified Hasselblad cameras and extensive photography training, the astronauts documented every aspect of their missions: the stark surface of the Moon, the fragile curve of Earth, and the intimate, everyday moments of life in space.
These images are more than documentation; they are works of art. From sweeping lunar panoramas to candid portraits inside the spacecraft, the Apollo photographs changed how we see ourselves, revealing our planet as a small, blue world suspended in the vastness of space.
Extract from Apollo 7 astronauts Walter Cunningham's essay
Over the last 50 years, we have enjoyed magnificent photographs of our planet taken from space. Today, the International Space Station (ISS) covers the Earth’s surface between plus and minus 51.6 degrees of latitude covering about 75 percent of our planet’s land area, where about 95 percent of the Earth’s population lives. The ISS has excellent windows, with some always offering a view of the Earth. The space station has a number of high resolution digital cameras enabling them to eventually take pictures of most things near the station’s ground tracks.
Photography is but one area of activity that has shown amazing improvements as space exploration has evolved over the past 50 years. In the ‘good old days’ of the Apollo program, we started improving the capability of doing space photography. We had the pleasure of carrying a Hasselblad 500C camera modified for use in space with an 80mm lens and nine magazines holding about 500 frames of 70mm film.
We trained with the Hasselblad camera for two years prior to our first Apollo launch. We used it at home and in our office but we also carried it with us when flying our T-38s around the country for training and engineering activities. It was not a particularly conveniently sized camera for our small T-38 cockpits but we did enjoy this part of our training activities.
The cameras of Apollo
Behind every iconic Apollo program image stood a camera built to withstand the extremes of space. Beginning with astronaut Walter Schirra’s personal Hasselblad, NASA engineers refined and adapted the Swedish cameras to meet the unique demands of spaceflight. Modified grips, oversized controls, interchangeable film magazines, and a variety of lenses and films allowed astronauts to capture everything from sweeping lunar landscapes to delicate spacecraft details.
More than just tools, these cameras became an extension of the astronauts themselves: documenting not only science and engineering, but the sheer wonder of exploration. Shot on cameras renowned in fashion and portrait photography, the Apollo images carry an unexpected fine-art sensibility. Their crisp detail, tonal depth, and striking compositions transcend reportage.
Today they stand not only as records of exploration, but as works of art. They belong as much in a museum or art gallery as they do in a beautiful coffee table book.
Get your hands on the definitive Apollo photobook
Apollo VII–XVII: Revised and Extended Edition is available now in a finely crafted, high-quality print edition. With luxurious paper stock, exceptional print clarity, and 255 restored images, it is the essential volume for lovers of space, photography, design, and history.