In an attempt to contextualize 20th century space exploration—just a few decades ago, yet already palpably of the past—I returned to Ames in the Spring of 2015 to photograph NASA Ames' dated design, archaic-looking equipment, and to capture the overall sense of a moment frozen in time. Ames was originally a NACA (National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics) laboratory. In 1958, NACA was dissolved and its assets and personnel transferred to the newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration: NASA. Nearly a decade later, we would land on the moon. It was striking to me that at almost every space agency I visited, someone lamented that we have never regained the collective promise and excitement of that era.
View "This Used to be the Future" for my complete essay on NASA Ames.