Spacing Out – Exhibit showcases astronaut’s year in photos

Neil Armstrong notched a singular spot in history as the first man to walk on the moon.

But astronaut Scott Kelly has made his own impressions on the space-time continuum. Not only are he and Mark Edward Kelly the only identical twin astronauts ever to serve with NASA in the U.S. space program, but Commander Kelly has also logged more time in the “final frontier” than any other American spaceman.

Kelly is about to share with the public dozens of digital photographs he took during his year aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Space Odyssey 2019, a display of images taken during that 12-month mission from 2015 to 2016, will open June 20 and run through Aug. 3 at the Palm Beach Photographic Centre in West Palm Beach.

“One’s perspective shifts when one lives for an entire year — as Commander Scott Kelly and no other American astronaut in history has — in the isolating, grueling and utterly unforgiving vacuum of space,” Fatima NeJame, the Centre’s president and CEO, said.

Kelly is a former military fighter pilot and test pilot, an engineer, a now-retired astronaut, and retired Navy captain. A veteran of four space flights, he commanded the ISS on three expeditions. He is also the brother-in-law of former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.), who survived a gunshot wound to the head after an attack at a constituent event in 2011.

NeJame said the Space Odyssey 2019 exhibition will feature between 40 and 60 frames, all reproduced using the center’s digital printer. “We are making them large so visitors can see the detail.”

“Kelly mastered the rare art of microgravity photography,” NeJame said.

Microgravity photography? “Using a Nikon D4 with an 800-millimeter lens and a 1.4x magnifying zoom lens, he panned the camera as the shutter released to compensate for the space station’s velocity: 17,500 miles per hour relative to the earth.”

In the display, his photos will be accompanied by personal commentary to put the images into their proper contexts.

During the ISS mission, while breaking records for time spent in outer space, Kelly spoke with President Barack Obama about what he was seeing and the pictures he was taking. The President encouraged him to share the photos with the world via Twitter and Instagram, which he did. Kelly’s artistic eye helped make him a social media sensation.

Through his lens, Kelly captured sunsets, moonrises, the Aurora Borealis, and the luminous, hazy tapestry of the Milky Way. “There are hurricanes, wrinkled mountains, New York City shining like a galaxy,” NeJame said. “Glorious photographs that are, in themselves, a passionate argument for the preservation of our planet in the face of climate change and environmental destruction.” In one of the images taken over South Asia as the Expedition 46 crew orbited high above Earth, Kelly looked down on a vivid blue body of water shot through with white. “Cool frozen lake in #Himalayas! #YearInSpace” he tweeted on Jan. 6, 2016, to his more than 5.6 million followers.