Bill Ingalls: The Right Stuff: Continuing a NASA Legacy
Changing of the Guard. The Soyuz TMA-5 spacecraft blasts off from Kazakhstan on October 14,
2004, en route to replace the crewmembers of the International Space
Station.
Photo: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Tucked away in a modest cabinet in photographer Bill Ingalls’ office is a collection of devices that once captured the spirit and energy of “The Right Stuff” for all the world to see.
These are the cameras used by Bill Taub, NASA’s first senior photographer, who worked with the agency from 1958 until he retired in 1975. “His work is what you see when you look at historic pictures of the original seven astronauts,” says Ingalls. “He did just amazing things.”
Filling Enormous Shoes
Ingalls, formerly a professor of television at Pittsburgh’s Robert Morris University, came to NASA in 1989 to manage the space agency’s vast historical archive of more than 50,000 images. But what he didn’t realize was that he’d soon be asked to step into some enormous space shoes — much to his delight.
”My boss said, ‘If you want to revitalize the senior photography position with some stature, that’s up to you,’” says Ingalls. “Of course, that thrilled me to death. He told me, ‘There’s a corner cabinet over there. Open it up, survey it, see what you need to supplement what’s there.’”
With more than a little excitement, Ingalls unlatched Taub’s old cabinet and discovered things that would cause any serious photographer to come unspooled. “I found all kinds of amazing, wonderful cameras — old Leicas, old Nikonos underwater cameras, old Rolleiflex twin-reflex cameras,” he says. “I didn’t get rid of anything.”
Augmenting this precious yet antiquated equipment with some brand new Nikons and Hasselblads, Ingalls set out to capture original contemporary images for NASA to complement Taub’s impressive body of work, and continue to tell NASA’s amazing story through pictures of its people and events.
Documenting a New Era
Today, as NASA headquarters senior contract photographer, Ingalls travels the world to shoot newsworthy and historical events beyond those covered by the staff photographers at the regional NASA space centers.
“When I came on board, all the bookeeping for our archive was done in three-ring binders. The first thing I did was purchase a Macintosh to set up a FileMaker Pro database so we could input all the image metadata to get us out of the three-ring binder world.”
Since 1991, he has documented the groundbreaking collaboration between the U.S. and Russia on the International Space Station. “I was sent over to Russia to photograph the first meeetings to discuss even the possibility of cooperation,” he says. Ingalls photographed the historic launch of Norm Thaggard, the first American astronaut to travel with cosmonauts to the MIR space station. “I photographed some of his training and the launch itself,” he says. “I’ve been back for other launches to the space station — not just manned missions, but hardware launches, as well.”
While most Space Shuttle launches are shot by photographers at the Kennedy Space Center, Ingalls photographs the attending VIPs and takes launch images from a vantage point three miles away. “I go down with the NASA administrator and anyone who attends from the White House or the Congress,” he says. “I’m there to escort them and get the challenge of photographing them and the launch at the same time.” Wryly, he adds, “I’ll get lucky every once in a while and someone will wear mirrored glasses.”
From Three-Ring Binders to Dual Processors
In addition to his ongoing photography work, Ingalls still heads the NASA photo archive. And ever since his earliest days there, he’s used Macintosh computers to organize the department and streamline its workflow.
“When I came on board, all the bookeeping for our archive was done in three-ring binders,” he explains. “The first thing I did was purchase a Macintosh to set up a FileMaker Pro database so we could input all the image metadata to get us out of the three-ring binder world.” His office uses Filemaker Pro to keep track of both photo data and customer information
