Visual Space

I started in February 2014. It’s actually a Facebook page with nearly 5,000 images.

In the early 80s, as images of Jupiter and Saturn were pouring in from Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, I was astounded by their artistic beauty. I wanted to present them as artwork in a coffee table book, so I did a little research to find more of these images. I called NASA’s information office. I was told that one of their partner Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) libraries was at Brown University in Providence, RI, about an hour from where I was living in the Boston area. I was also told that since NASA’s programs are all funded with tax dollars, the pictures are all in the public domain, meaning I could use them at no charge.

Shortly after speaking to NASA, I took my first trip to Brown. I have to say I was overwhelmed by the number of photos. There were millions. The JPL portion of Brown’s Library looked to be about 2,000 sq. ft. The rooms were lined with large 4-draw file cabinets. Each 36” drawer was stuffed with 8” x 10” photos. They were packed so tightly that you had to take the photos out the view them. The room that held all the Lunar images had huge flat files filled with maps and composite images of the Lunar surface. I could have spent a month there and not seen every image. I made three more visits and was blown away each time.

Next I called the Government Printing Office and asked them to send me a catalog. I purchased two copies of a number of books displaying a few of the images taken by Pioneer, Voyager, Viking, Mariner, Sky Lab, and Apollo programs. I cut these books up and laid out a sample chapter and then started calling publishers. I had two or three that were interested but thought the project would be too expensive. This communication took months. Remember this was the 80s. Eventually I tabled the project.

Fast forward 3 decades. Now we have Facebook. Voyager alone has sent back trillions of bits of data. My plan is to post two or three of these majestic images each day. Like, Comment, Share, but most of all, enjoy the beauty!

Check it out at www.visual-space.org.