First Fleet NASA's Space Shuttle Program 1981-1986
-
Photographer
John Chakeres
-
Prize
3rd Place / Book/Documentary
-
Company/Studios
John A. Chakeres Fine Art
-
Date of Photograph
1981-1986
-
Technical Info
Hasselblad 500 EL/M, Kodak VPS, Digital Negative Scans, Pigment Prints
-
Socials
-
Website
First Fleet is an enduring photographic portrait of the early years of NASA's Space Shuttle. Between 1981 and 1986, the Shuttle program went from an R&D program to a fully operational commercial space program. Those early years were filled with excitement and optimism about the future of space travel. With every launch I witnessed, it felt like I had a front row seat to the future. It was this excitement I hoped to capture in these photographs. First Fleet is my way of paying homage to all the men and women who built and flew the Space Shuttle. And how they inspired me to live a creative life.
-
Biography
John A. Chakeres has been working in photography more than 40 years. He has published four books, First Fleet: NASA’s Space Shuttle Program 1981-1986, 2018, Traces: An Investigation in Reason, 1977, D’art Objects: A Collaboration. 1978, and Random New York: An Unscripted Walk, 2008. His work have been in numinous exhibitions and publications. His work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Southeast Museum of Photography, Monterey Museum of Art, and Tweed Museum of Art. He resided in Columbus, Ohio.
