Project Apollo, From Launchpad to the Moon in 3 Minutes

NASA’s lunar mission archives are open, and creative types are making the most of them.

byMax Prince|
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It’s been like landing on the Moon all over again. Earlier this month, Kipp Teague, custodian of NASA’s Project Apollo Archive, released some 8,400 photos on Flickr. High-resolution shots from the lunar missions, meticulously curated and free to use. It feels like a stream-of-consciousness photo essay on progress; planetary wonder via Hasselblad. The aesthetic is perfect. If this doesn’t stroke your sense of awe, at man and space and incredible things we can accomplish, check your pulse.

Apollo Archives/Flickr

So people have been creating. Remixing and cutting together short films. Compilations and mashups, set to effects with professional-grade production quality. Pieces like this beautiful, stop-motion-style clip by Harrison Icus. Hundreds of still shots, stitched together and synchronized to music, a space story told in under three minutes.

In 1965, at the conclusion of the first American spacewalk, Lt. Col. Ed White said, “I’m coming back in… and it’s the saddest moment of my life.” Now we understand why.

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