Jumping Off a Cliff... into Space


Staying with the space related theme from the previous article, today's post ventures a little bit past Earth's atmosphere to show you the first NASA spacewalk.

The amazing photograph above shows astronaut Ed White, pilot of NASA's Gemini 4 mission, on the first ever US spacewalk or more technically speaking, extra-vehicular activity. This wasn't the first occasion of an EVA as the honor of the first ever space walk goes to cosmonaut Alexey Leonov.

Even without going into details of how this photograph was made, this is an amazing image every time you look at it; a close crop of a free floating spaceman against the darkness of space on one side and the vibrant blue Earth on the other side.

Symbolically speaking, the tether attached to the astronaut looks more like an umbilical cord, and the whole scene is evocative of man's attempt to free itself of the binding ties to its mother Earth. With all of the advancements of man at that time and even with the purportedly coming Singularity a few decades away, the photo somehow shows that humans are still grounded in some way and will never be entirely free of their physical limitation. 

While the image is truly iconic, it is sad to note that astronaut Ed White died in the Apollo 1 cabin fire. The memory of his life and work will live on in this great picture.

This image is also taken from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Photostream. If you want a larger resolution file of this US spacewalk photo, you can find it here.

Comments

  1. Just looking at this photo makes me want to go into space!!!!

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  2. Another awesome space photo. I never thought about the umbilical cord things before, makes the metaphor between man and Earth even stronger.

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  3. It'd be amazing to take pictures in space

    I'm sure it'd be pretty hard to do in a spacesuit without a special camera though

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  4. that must be the craziest feeling. totally out of this world!

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  5. thats so sad that he died, at least some nice pictures came from it. Im sure he has no regrets. what a life to live.

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  6. What a great photo. I cant imagine whats going through is head right now

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  7. Those are some big spaceballs. I was going to ask for a higher res... thanks for the link!

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  8. that's kinda scary! so much void...

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  9. must be amazing to float around in the nothingness

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  10. this picture is very beautiful, the blue shade is stunning

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  11. I wonder how safe he feels wearing all that gear?

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  12. I wonder if one day humanity will ever reach the moon.

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  13. Stunning photo, that takes some grit.

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  14. Wow your blog is so cool the pictures are always fun to look at!

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  15. Wow, that's an amazing picture right there. And yes, I noticed the umbilical-cord look almost instantly. Love the depth of the picture.

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  16. awesome photo. space, something we will never discover

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  17. awesome photo.. can't stop looking at it..

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  18. that is a beautiful photo. it makes me feel so light <3<3

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  19. Great photo man thx for the background on the Astronaut also

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  20. its so insane when you realize some of the things humanity has accomplished.

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  21. What a great picture. Great post.

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  22. WOw that is one thing id really like to try!

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  23. I do love NASA images. Check http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/index.html for "Great Images in NASA" - some fantastic pictures taken over decades of ambitious space research!

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  24. Now that would be an awesome photo assignment to be sent on.

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  25. Another great photo with an interesting writeup. Sad to hear about the subject's tragic death.

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  26. Ahhh...Space. While I encourage and push for space travel and exploration, I know that I will never be one of the people that actually goes UP THERE. Never been a big fan of the whole threat of decompression. :/

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  27. wonder what sorts of cameras they used for these older shots

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  28. Love your writing and beautiful picture! :)

    Heel in Mint

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  29. Amazing! Its a breath taking image when you really take the scope of everything about it in.

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  30. That picture is haunting me. I can't stop looking at it.

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  31. I'm surprised by quality of the photo, Im not a history buff, but i didnt know they had cameras that good back then.

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  32. that is a great pic. i love astronaut pics

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  33. Great photo. Love the space theme. Keep em coming...

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  34. Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace!

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  35. Wow.. That picture is a good stuff and I'm completely agree that it's truly iconic!

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  36. nice picture. that's gotta take guts. man.

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  37. Makes you wonder if we will ever reach any other planet or at least the Moon ;)

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  38. There must be something wrong with me because I've never been interested in space stuff.

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  39. Thats just awesome! I want to go to space!

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  40. Wow, looks like Mr. White having an epic robot hand Oo

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  41. Those are great, but you should go more in the direction of robert capa ;) Would be awesome ;)

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  42. That's what I thought as well, looks like an umbilical chord.

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  43. i want to be an astronaut :D awesome photo

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  44. me too. I want to go into Space. great pic.

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  45. This is an amazing photo and then so sad when you read the end of this post. At least he will forever be immortalized with such a shot!
    Ava

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