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This collection consists of color slides taken by Don Blair during his coverage of astronaut crew splashdowns and recoveries, 1960s.
Donald W. Blair (1933-2018) served in the Army from 1953 to 1955, and then attended the Cambridge School of Radio and TV in Manhattan, New York. The first 10 years of his career were spent in local radio before he joined the Mutual Network and from 1966 until 1989 he worked at Mutual, WCBS Radio, ABC Entertainment and NBC. Blair covered astronaut splashdowns and recoveries for the following missions: Gemini 9, June 1966 with USS Wasp (CVS-18); Gemini 10, July 1966 with USS Guadalcanal (LPH-7); Gemini 11, September 1966 with USS Guam; (LPH-9); Apollo 11, July 1969 with the USS Hornet (CVS-12); and Apollo 15, August 1972 with the USS Okinawa (LPH-3). Blair detailed his experience in his book, Splashdown: NASA and the Navy, which was published in 2004.
NASM.2019.0034
Blair, Donald W.
1966-1972
Robert Fish, Gift, 2019, NASM.2019.0034
0.2 Cubic feet (One box.)
National Air and Space Museum Archives
This collection consists of 35 mm color slides taken by Don Blair during his coverage of astronaut crew splashdowns and recoveries for the following missions: Gemini 9, June 1966 with USS Wasp (CVS-18); Gemini 10, July 1966 with USS Guadalcanal (LPH-7); Gemini 11, September 1966 with USS Guam; (LPH-9); Apollo 11, July 1969 with the USS Hornet (CVS-12); and Apollo 15, August 1972 with the USS Okinawa (LPH-3). The collection also includes two 35 mm black and white negative strips from Apollo 15, a small contact sheet of 35 mm three negatives from Apollo 11, and a few 35 mm copy slides of official National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) photographs. A set of digital scans of most of the original slides was provided by the donor on a USB flash drive.
Slides are arranged by space mission recovery event, with black and white negatives appearing at the end of the collection.
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Gemini and Apollo Crew Splashdown Recovery Color Slides [Don Blair], NASM.2019.0034, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Astronautics
Astronauts
Gemini Project
Apollo Project
Helicopters
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Slides
Color slides