How John Glenn’s $40 camera forced NASA to rethink space missions

We’re about to take a trip back in the early 1960s and find out how a $40 pharmaceutical camera forced NASA to rethink its space missions. Yes, this is correct. A simple camera purchased at the local drugstore has played a pivotal role in shaping the future of space exploration and paving the way for unscientific space photography.

Let’s set the scene: It’s 1962, and NASA is focused on one primary goal, getting humans into space and back to Earth safely. It was, after all, the Cold War, and America was losing the space race to Russia. Photography was the last thing on NASA’s mind. Heck, they weren’t even planning on putting windows in their spacecraft back then! Can you imagine?

But fate would have it, they eventually broke down and put up the windows for two main reasons: to alleviate claustrophobic conditions and to soothe the diva-like tendencies of pilots who need to know where to go. We can’t blame them, right?

Fast forward to the launch date of February 20, 1962. John Glenn’s historic Mercury-Atlas 6 mission has already been delayed 10 times due to technical problems and weather conditions. Glenn, a seasoned astronaut, bought an Ansco Autoset camera for just $40 from a drugstore in Cocoa Beach, Florida.

Manufactured by Minolta, this camera was one of the first auto-exposure cameras on the market, making it the perfect choice for Glenn. He wouldn’t have to fiddle with the aperture or shutter speed, which was a big plus. The camera also has a built-in selenium light meter and requires no batteries to operate. Everything was working mechanically.

Now, here’s where things get interesting. Glenn, with the help of NASA engineers, quickly modified the camera to make it usable with the astronaut’s bulky gloves. They turned the camera upside down, attached a pistol grip to special buttons to control both the shutter and film advance, and even moved the lens down, which was now on top of the camera because they had turned it over.

Talk about some OG camera hacks!

When John Glenn finally reached outer space aboard the Friendship 7 spacecraft on February 20, 1962, he said the camera was easy to operate and even used zero gravity to his advantage. “When I needed both hands,” he said, “I let go of the camera and went right there in front of me.”

During his mission of the three orbits lasting 4 hours and 55 minutes, John Glenn took the first still color photographs of the Earth ever taken by a human using this camera.

It shot 48 frames, which is more than the typical 36 exposures you normally get on a roll of 35mm film — and that’s because NASA thought of that, too. Since there would be no way for Glenn to change the film during the mission, they cleaved two rolls of film together and then fitted them back into the camera with a special mechanism that could only be opened with a “NASA screwdriver”. This allowed Glenn to take up to 70 frames.

All of this camera hacking was hastily done just days before the mission and on a camera that was basically a $40 toy.

What’s even cooler is the impact these images have on the world. People were fascinated by the pictures of our beautiful blue planet from outer space. It resonated with the public, and NASA quickly recognized the importance of photography in their future space missions. They can’t just send people into space and not capture the magic and beauty of it all.

And to think, if the launch date hadn’t been pushed back 10 times, it might never have happened. But it worked, and John Glenn, with his trusty $40 drugstore camera, became a pioneer in space photography, paving the way for future astronauts to capture the magic of space and share it with the world.

Like any other traveler, John Glenn may have wanted to document his historic journey, but little did he know that his $40 camera would be a game-changer for NASA. Ansco Autoset may be a simple game, but it has played an important role in the history of space exploration. It just goes to show that sometimes the smallest things can have the biggest impact.

About the author: Ross Harried is a Wisconsin-based photographer. You can find more of his work at their websiteAnd FacebookAnd TwitterAnd Instagram.