Space photography has come a long way since the Mercury missions of the early 1960s. The only photo equipment in Colonel John Glenn's cramped Friendship 7 capsule was a point-and-shoot camera loaded with Kodak 35mm film. Every inch of interior space was precious, and every ounce of weight had to be accounted for. The astronaut had many critical duties in his brief solo flight. Clearly, photography was not the highest priority. Even so, spectacular pictures from these early flights helped galvanize public support for NASA.

Decades later, launch rockets are far more powerful, spacecraft are much larger, and crews have expanded to seven. Flight time is measured in days or weeks rather than hours. Photography is now considered important enough to rate a full week of training for the five mission specialists of STS-95, including Senator Glenn. (The pilot and co-pilot are totally occupied with other duties.)

The five part-time photographers use a impressive array of equipment: a Nikon F4 35mm SLR (single-lens reflex) camera with a set of lenses; a Hasselblad medium-format SLR system; and a KODAK Professional DCS 460 Digital Camera (which also accepts Nikon lenses). The cameras are not modified for Shuttle use, except for the addition of Velcro strips so they don't float away. Live digital pictures from the DCS 460 will be sent to earth throughout the mission.

Operating outside earth's atmosphere, the Shuttle is subject to relatively high levels of natural radiation. It doesn't harm the astronauts, but it could create fog or color shifts in some types of film. That's why NASA scientists extensively test film stocks before approving them for flight. Discovery carries 96 rolls of KODAK 35mm film and 50 rolls of KODAK 70mm film.

At the end of the mission, all exposed film is immediately airlifted to Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, for processing. A dozen first-generation dupes are made from each original image. The originals are then stored under archival conditions, and normally not used again.

KODAK Professional DCS 460 Digital Camera

Photos courtesy of NASA; Glenn With Camera courtesy of Joe McNally