Saturn V

I photographed the Saturn V series during my visit to the US Space and Rocket Centre in Huntsville, Alabama. Ever since I was a child, I have been fascinated by the moon landings and shuttle missions of the 70’s and 80’s so I made time to spend a day there during a recent road trip through the Deep South. I was taken aback by the immense scale and complexity of these awesome relics which I find are not only iconic symbols of American dominance of the space race but extremely alluring objects in their own right. I was particularly drawn to the enigma that is the Saturn V rocket which is on permanent exhibition in it’s own massive super-hangar. The Saturn V was designed under the direction of Wernher von Braun himself, the cream of the crop of German Nazi scientists ‘harvested' by the US Government after WW2 under the (then) secret program known as Operation Paperclip. It’s history as well as it’s sheer physical presence really captivated me. It is an absolute beast and also a work of art, holding the record for the tallest, heaviest, and most powerful rocket 'ever brought to operational status’. Interestingly, Saturn V was successfully launched 13 times between 1968 -1972 and became the benchmark by which all rockets are measured. To date, it remains the only launch vehicle able to transport human beings beyond low Earth orbit and I feel privileged to have been able to photograph this monumental machine that took 24 men to the moon.