John Glenn

FROM THE ESTATE OF NASA SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER BILL TAUB

[Project Mercury]

John Glenn

Vintage chromogenic print, 8 x 10 in., taken by Bill Taub of Mercury astronaut John Glenn in his silver spacesuit. SIGNED and INSCRIBED by Glenn: "Best regards to my friend / Bill Taub - you've done some / really great "Brownie-snapping" / during MA-6, Bill, and I appreciate / it very much. / John A. Glenn, Jr. / Mercury Astronaut". "#5" written in pencil on verso.

WITH: Vintage silver gelatin print, 8 x 10 in., taken by Bill Taub of John Glenn in his silver spacesuit, with Taub's image reflected on Glenn's chest mirror. "9" written in pencil on verso.

NASA's senior photographer, Bill Taub, was away from home for as many as 150 days a year, travelling to training sessions, shuttle launches, and recovery sites. Glenn's inscription warmly captures the appreciation the high regard in which NASA's astronauts held him. 

At the age of 17, Taub was offered a job building aircraft models at NACA's Langley Field in Hampton, VA. Shortly after he arrived, he succeeded in photographing the spark of an engine inside a cylinder using his Leica camera, something that NACA's official photographers had been unable to capture (as they were using the wrong equipment). This caught the attention of officials at Langley, who then offered him a new job as a photographer; he would go on to visually chronicle nearly the entire space program. 

LITERATURE

For an excellent interview of Taub done for the NASA Oral History Project see: https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/oral_histories/NASA_HQ/Administrators/TaubWP/TaubWP_11-8-06.htm