Object Details
- Manufacturer
- General Electric, Missile & Space Division
- Summary
- Developed jointly by General Electric and ACR Electronics, this camera was the first to provide pictures of the Earth's surface from outer space and the first to provide pictures of a launch vehicle falling away from a payload. On 12 May 1959, the camera was carried in a special capsule atop a Thor rocket from Cape Canaveral to an altitude of 350 miles and a distance of over 1,500 miles. Fifteen minutes after launch the capsule and camera were recovered after splashing down in the Atlantic. Operating at the slow speed of 5 frames per second, the camera provided 35 feet of 16 mm. motion picture film. It was donated to the Smithsonian Institution by General Electric in 1961.
- Credit Line
- Gift of the Missile and Space Division of the General Electric Company.
- Inventory Number
- A19610143000
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Type
- SPACECRAFT-Uncrewed-Instruments & Payloads
- Materials
- Box: Magnesium
- Film reel: Textilite
- Gears, shafts etc: .aluminum, chrome steel
- Lens collar:Teflon w/polyurethane foam for protection
- Dimensions
- Overall: 2 1/2 in high x 6 in. wide x 10 in. deep (6.4 x 15.2 x 25.4cm)
- Country of Origin
- United States of America
- See more items in
- National Air and Space Museum Collection
- National Air and Space Museum
- Record ID
- nasm_A19610143000
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nv941a7466a-bfbc-4f5c-9081-2e2ded9d9eff
