Photographer Dan Winters on His Apollo Obsession

Apollo Mission Control: "Housed in Building 30 at Johnson Space Center, the room that once reeked of coffee and cigarettes now smells of fresh paint and carpet. I first saw it in 2011 when it had more recently been used for the Shuttle program. It bore the marks of that era, but I felt the energy of the many missions before.

Whenever we have a space-related story in the pipeline at WIRED, we in the art department all look at each other and say, “Oh, well Dan has to shoot this.”

That’s because Winters, who has a vast photographic history with WIRED from the past couple of decades, is space-obsessed. Anything NASA related, he knows about it and can tell you everything.


It could take hours. Or days. So when NASA told him that the Apollo mission control room in Houston was getting a makeover, he knew he had to shoot it.

Well, it was more like a make-back-over to its exact state on the day Apollo 11 touched down on the surface of the moon (cigarettes and all).

NASA opened the newly restored mission control room to the public on July 1; Winters shared an image from a private viewing he photographed a couple weeks prior.

Winters, who has been photographing Apollo mission archives and artifacts for decades, spoke to WIRED about this project and his space obsession.


Anna Alexander: Thank you so much for sharing this incredible and emotional project with WIRED. How did it come about?

Dan Winters: Having worked for so many years with NASA, I have forged relationships with many of the agency’s personnel.

Public Affairs Officer Shaneequa Vereen and I spoke about the full restoration of the Apollo mission control room, and she invited me to photograph it in its Apollo-era glory. Hallowed ground if there ever was.

As long as I've known you, you have had a very healthy obsession with the space program. How did your love of NASA start?
 
I grew up in the ’60s, and like most kids my age I wanted to be an astronaut. Astronauts were constantly in the press. Every kid I knew could name the majority of them. They were on everyone’s mind. Space exploration was a part of the public dialog.

Neil Armstrong EVA Glove: "Part of the A7-L spacesuit, this glove was worn by Armstrong during his 'lunar extravehicular activity' sorties on July 20, 1969." Photographed at the Air and Space Museum

Did you watch Apollo 11 on TV?
I was glued to the television during the Apollo 11 mission, watching every aspect of it with great devotion. I sat in our small living room with two TV trays in front of me. 

One for food and one that served as a workbench for a model of the Apollo capsule that I built.

Tell me about your model-making!

 
I trace my passion for model building directly to the space program and the science fiction films that I devoured in my childhood. Comics and sci-fi movies, as well as Famous Monsters Of Filmland magazine and Super 8 Filmmaker magazine, were very influential for me. 

My love for all things related to science and mechanics probably stemmed from my father’s interest in the topics.

Saturn S4-B Detail: "The third stage of the Saturn V Rocket was the last stage of the Apollo booster stack. Its J3-A engine was used to bring the craft to escape velocity and power her to the moon. The helium tanks, mounted on the bottom next to the engine mount, were used to facilitate restarting the engines."