Landsat and Apollo: The Forgotten Legacy
Paul D. Lowman, Jr.
Abstract
This paper demonstrates that Landsat was fundamentally a
result of the Apollo Program. The U.S. Geological Survey's
EROS proposal of 1966, which eventually led to Landsat, was
stimulated largely by the demonstrated utility of 1100 orbital
photographs from the Gemini missions, Gemini being solely
preparation for Apollo. In addition, Earth-oriented remote
sensing research sponsored by NASA in the mid-1960s, primarily support for Apollo lunar missions, included studies of
Earth resource applications as well. Finally, the extensive series of airborne remote sensing studies carried out by the
NASA Manned Spacecraft Center was Apollo-derived in that
the primary mission of MSG was to accomplish a lunar landing. It is concluded that, had it not been for the Apollo Program, Landsat or its equivalent would have been delayed by
10 years or more.
As it recedes into history, the Apollo Program is increasingly regarded as a heroic effort, but one that did little more
than put flags and footprints on the Moon. There is virtually
no realization that one of Apollo's most fundamental results,
too important to be trivialized as "spinoff," was the Landsat
Program. Two recent reviews of Landsat's history (Lauer et
al., 1997; Mack and Williamson, 1998) make little or no
mention of Apollo, although Mack's (1990) earlier treatment
briefly summarized the impact of Gemini photography. These
and similar publications, such as Vincent's (1997) authoritative remote sensing text, give a misleading impression of
how Landsat actually arose.
The purpose of this note is to set the record straight for
the remote sensing community, for more reasons than simple
historical accuracy. The Apollo Program was in its day widely
criticized by scientists, including several Nobel laureates, on
the grounds that unmanned spacecraft would be just as effective and far less expensive. Future space efforts may be
handicapped by this still-widespread view, typified by the
recent statement of French space minister Claude Allegre,
criticizing the International Space Station, that he was unaware of any important scientific discovery made by an astronaut (Space News, 22-28 June 1998).
The case for Apollo as a key element in Landsat begins
with the statement by the late W. T. Pecora (1969), that
Landsat's precursor concept, the Earth Resources Observation
Satellite (EROS) program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS),
was "conceived in 1966 largely as a direct result of the demonstrated utility of Mercury and Gemini orbital photography
to Earth resource studies." A contemporary review of satellite imagery in this journal (Merifield et al., 1969) devoted its
first six pages to the "superb" Gemini and Apollo 70-mm
photographs. A similar paper, by a U ~ G Sgeologist (Fary,
1967) argued for EROS, illustrating its value with several
''magnificent" Gemini photographs. However, the link between EROS and Apollo is a complex one, needing further
discussion.
The American manned space program began with Project Mercury in 1958. On the last two Mercury missions (MAGoddard Space Flight Center (Code 921), Greenbelt, MD
20771 ([email protected]).
PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING 81REMOTE SENSING
8 and MA-~),
the pilots (W.M. Schirra and L.G. Cooper)
carried out hand-held 70-mm terrain photography for geologic purposes (O'Keefe et al., 1963), suggested by P.M. Merifield on the basis of his analyses of sounding rocket
photography (Merifield and Rammelkamp, 1964). With a long
(22-orbit) mission, Cooper had the opportunity to obtain 29
70-mm color photographs, chiefly of southern Asia. These
photographs, backed by Cooper's seemingly incredible visual
observations, were one of the main scientific results of Project Mercury (Lowman, 1965). They were displayed at a 1964
UNESCO remote sensing conference in Toulouse, triggering
world-wide interest, and termed by the late W.A. Fischer
"the high point of the meeting." The Mercury program
ended with the MA-9 mission in 1963, but the Mercury photographs led directly to the SO05 Synoptic Terrain Photography Experiment (Lowman, 1969), carried on the two-man
Gemini flights beginning in 1965.
It is at this point that the link between Apollo and Landsat emerges clearly. The Gemini Program, started after President Kennedy's 1961 proposal for a lunar landing, was an
intensive effort to develop the technology and operational
techniques for lunar missions. Despite its separate designation, and the supeficial resemblance of the Gemini spacecraft to the Mercury capsules, Gemini was an integral part of
Apollo. It produced a broad technological infrastructure and
extensive experience in orbital rendezvous and extravehicular activity. However, the Gemini astronauts also carried out
a wide range of scientific experiments, one of them synoptic
terrain photography. On the first long (4-day) mission, J.A.
McDivitt and the late E.H. White took, among others, a series
of 39 overlapping near-vertical color pictures from Baja California to central Texas (Lowman et al., 1966). All ten Gemini
missions, except the aborted GT-8,produced photographs
useful for geology, geography, or oceanography, eventually
totaling about 1100 (Lowman, 1969a; Lowman, 1980). Many
are unsurpassed to this day (Figure I), possibly because the
Earth's atmosphere in areas such as Brazil is not as clear as
it was before deforestation began.
Published wideIy, in magazines such as the National Geographic (Lowman, 1966) and Life, the Gemini color photographs generated international interest in the potential applications of orbital imagery of the Earth's surface (Lillesand
and Kiefer, 1994), as distinguished fiom satellite meteorology, where the value of orbital sensors had already been
demonstrated. It should be emphasized here that, until the
mid-1960s, there was virtually no appreciation of the scientific and environmental applications of orbital terrain imagery.
For example, "Long Range Thinking in Space Sciences," an
internal NASA document published in October 1960, although outlining investigations of the Earth's atmosphere,
magnetic fields, and mass distribution, said nothing about
Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing,
Vol. 65, No. 10, October 1999, pp. 1143-1147.
0099-1112/99/6510-1143$3.00/0
8 1999 American Society for Photogrammetry
and Remote Sensing
October 1999
1143
man, 1996). Starting in 1963, a wide range of remote sensing
studies was carried out with the support of NASA Headquarters under the leadership of P.C. Badgley (Lowman, 1980;
Mack, 1990). Badgley coordinated remote sensing efforts for
Apollo missions then being planned (Friedrnan et al., 1964),
in particular, Earth-orbital Apollo Extension System (AES,
later Apollo Applications Program) missions that, in effect,
were eventually flown as Skylab. (He also encouraged the
USGS EROS proposal.) The Earth-orbital and aircraft missions
were viewed as precursors to later lunar missions (Figure 3),
the terrestrial test sites being chosen for their similarity to lunar terrains as well as for purely terrestrial applications. The
remote sensing programs developed by Badgley and his collaborators were thus an integral part of Apollo.
A similar Apollo parentage can be shown for the Earthoriented remote sensing programs of the NASA Manned
Spacecraft Center (MSC) (now the Lyndon B, Johnson Space
Center), starting in the early 1960s. MSC was, of course, the
lead center for the Apollo lunar landing program (as well as
the Gemini missions), but it also carried out a broad program
of remote sensing research using a fleet of aircraft with a variety of sensors. MSC was responsible for Skylab with its
complement of remote sensing instruments, the eventual realization of AES as mentioned above. The point is that the
Manned Spacecraft Center was built solely as the result of
Figure 1. Gemini 1 2 photograph S-66-63082 (original in
the decision to go to the Moon; without Apollo, there would
color);view to east over the Zagros Mountains (left),
have been no MSC.
Strait of Hormuz, and Makran Range. Persian Gulf at
It should be added that the MSC contribution to ERTS
lower right. From Lowman and Tiedemann (1971).
continued after the period with which this paper is primarily
concerned (Amsbury, 1989; Kaltenbach, 1969a; Kalatenbach,
1969b). The unmanned Apollo 6 mission carried a fixed 70mm camera that produced excellent stereo pairs in color
over the southwest U.S. and Africa. The Apollo 7 crew carthe study of the planet's surface from orbit. The Mercury
ried out an extensive terrain photography Program with a vaphotographs began to remedy such omissions, but it was the
sudden flood of high-resolution color photographs from Gem- riety of films and filters, returning about 200 photos useful
ini that gave orbital remote sensing a jump start, so to speak, for geology. What has been called the ''most important terrain photography" (Colwell, 1997) was the SO65 experiment
In particular, they stimulated the EROS proposal.
on Apollo 9 in 1969. Using a set of four coaxially mounted
Electronic imaging from space had been carried out
70-mm cameras, astronauts McDivitt, Schweikart, and Scott
since 1960 by various meteorological satellites beginning
~ ~ ~ YOut a returned-film simulation for ERTS
with the Tires series. In 1966 RCA, who had supplied the Ti- S U C C ~ S S ~carried
(Lowman, 196913)-In addition to producing many geologiros television cameras, approached the terrain photography
cally useful pictures, the So65 experiment provided a proofexperimenters at Goddard Space Flight Center with the proposal to use the Return Beam Vidicon (RFJV) camera on a sat- of-conce~tfor ERTS. In summary, the Apollo Program not
only provided the initial stimulus for ERTS, through EROS,
ellite to produce high resolution imagery for geological and
but continued to produce valuable experience in orbital rerelated purposes. Preoccupied with the hundreds of color
mote sensing up to and beyond the first E ~ ~ s / L a n d slaunch
at
photographs from the Gemini missions (Lowman a d Tiedemann, 1971), the GSFC group referred the RCA representatives in l972.
An obvious question arises at this point. Given the rapid
to W.A. Fischer. Already a world leader in aerial photograprogress in remote sensing during the mid-1960s, would not
phy and "remote sensing" (then a new term), Fischer realLandsat or its equivalent have been developed anyway,
ized the value of an electronic Earth resources satellite. He
sooner or later?
and W.T. Pecora, with the cooperation of the Office of Naval
The writer's answer is: Yes, but very much "later," not
Research and the Department of Agriculture, in the following
"sooner." As pointed out previously, from 1963 on NASA
months produced the EROS proposal, originally based on the
was planning orbital remote sensing programs for later
RBV. However, the Gemini photographs (Figure 2) were used
Apollo missions, and for eventual space stations. Some of
repeatedly by the USGS and NASA to justify what eventually
became the Earth Resources Technology Satellite, later Land- these were carried out succesfully on Skylab, as the Earth
Resources Experiments Package (EREP). However, the Apollo
sat. The original ERoS Interior Department press release ( 2 1
September 1966) included three Gemini 70-mm photographs, Program was stopped in 1975; the successor to Skylab was
consigned to the Smithsonian Museum; and the International
and subsequent displays such as Figure 2 featured many
Space Station will not be operational until the next century,
more. Congressional testimony by NASA, the Interior Departalmost 20 years after initially proposed by President Reagan.
ment, and other officials similarly included Gemini pictures.
The generous acknowledgment cited above by W.T. Pecora is
The sudden emergence of the small electronic Earth rethus documented by the Geological Survey's own publications.
sources satellite concept clearly short-circuited a long and
The Apollo-Landsat connection would be demonstrable
uncertain development sequence, just as Fred Singer's
even without the Gemini photography. Although focussed
MOUSE (Minimum Orbital Unmanned Satellite of Earth) byprimarily on a lunar landing, the Apollo Program included a
passed the large space station concepts of the early 1950s
substantial effort in Earth resource remote sensing, an aspect
(Newell, 1980). However, it took a "long fight," in Mack's
of Apollo often neglected in the technical literature (Low(1990) term, for Landsat to become an approved program.
1144
October 1999
PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING 81 REMOTE SENSING
I
-
I
I
Fig\ 2. Display prepared by A. Csonl .. J.S. Geological Survey, 1967; figures and
text supplied by P.D. Lowman. (Note: City of Kerman is in Iran, not "West Pakistan.")
There was intense opposition to it from all sides, starting
with objections of the Budget Bureau to any new NASA programs. It was argued, for example, that high-altitude aircraft
could do the job as well as a satellite for much less money.
Political objections were raised as to the legality of photographing foreign countries from space without their pennission. Even after the first Landsat launch, the phrase "solution
in search of a problem" was occasionally heard. All these
obstacles arose in spite of the spectacular success of the
Gemini and Apollo Earth-orbital photography. Without these
photographs, proponents of Earth resource satellites would
have had to rely chiefly on air photos, spectral reflectance
curves, and persuasion.
Another question should be answered briefly: Even without Apollo, would not imagery from military reconnaissance
satellites have been put to civilian uses? The best answer to
this is simply the fact that, even after some 20 years of successful orbital sensing by Landsat, SPOT, ERS-1, and other satellites, it was not until 1995 that photographs from the CORONA
program, which began in 1960, were declassified (McDonald,
PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
1997). Without Landsat, it is likely that we would be waiting
for such declassification, or for a civilian "CORONA,"
well
into the next century.
Goward (1989) has described Landsat as "one of the
greatest scientific achievments of the latter twentieth century
- a continuous, consistent, quality record of the continental
surfaces of the Earth, dating from 1972." It seems clear that
this achievment would have been delayed at least 10 years
had it not been for the Apollo Program. Given the rate of environmental destruction, such a delay might have had disastrous consequences.
As and when launched in 1972, Landsat was a major
part of the Apollo legacy, a tribute to the skill and dedication of the astronauts, and a striking example of the serendipity of space exploration.
Acknowledgments
The basic purpose of this paper is to document the contributions of the people of the Apollo Program, and to that extent
the reference list is a blanket acknowledgment. However, in
October 1999
1145
POSSIBLE MANNED SCIENTIFIC MISSIONS
SCIENTIFIC MISSIONS
1970-74
1975-79
1980-84 11985-
EARTH ORBITAL
1. EARLY MANNED ORB ITAL
RESEARCH FLIGHTS
2. SMALL MANNED ORBITING
RESEARCH LABORATORY
3. MEDIUM SIZED MANNED
ORB lTlNG LABORATORY
4. LARCEOBSERVATORYAND
RESEARCH LABORATORY
LUNAR
1. INITIAL SURVEY
AND LANDING
2. EXPLORATION
A f 3 SURF TRAVEI
A C S ORM FISH
LtSA OR
SIMILAR DIRECI SUPPLY SYSltN
3. EXTENDED EXPLORATION
APPLICATIONS, AND OPNS.
--
I
PLANETARY
1. INITIAL SURVEY
F
L
Y
LANDlR
i
'
AND LANDING
Figure 3. Proposed sequence of Earth orbital, lunar, and planetary missions (from Badgley (1964)).
preparing this paper, I have benefited from reviews, correspondence, or discussions with Dave Amsbury, Don Beattie,
the late Herb Blodget, Bob Colwell, Pat Dickerson, John Kaltenbach, Bill Muehlberger, Vince Salomonson, Herb Tiedemann, and Lou Walter.
Amsbury, D.L., 1989. United States manned observations of Earth
before the Space Shuttle, Geocarto International, 1:7-14.
Badgley, P.C., 1964. The application of remote sensors in planetary
exploration, presented at the Third Annual Remote Sensing Conference, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Colwell, R.N., 1997. History and place of photographic interpretation, Manual of Photogmphic Interpretation, Second Edition
(W.R. Philipson, editor), American Society for Photogrammetry
and Remote Sensing, pp. 3-47.
Fary, R.W., 1967. Explorers from space, Journal of Geological Education, 15:99-104.
Friedman, J.D., R.J.P. Lyon, D.A. Beattie, and J. Downey, 1964. Lunar
ground data required for interpretation of AES orbital experiments, Advances in the Astronautical Sciences, 20:381-392.
Goward, S.N., 1989. Landsat 1989; Remote sensing at the crossroads,
Remote Sensing of Environment, 28:3-4.
Kaltenbach, J.L., 1969a. Science Screening Report of the Apollo 7
Mission 70mm Photogmphy and NASA Earth Resources Aircraff
Mission 981 Photography, NASA Tech. Memo X-58029.
, 1969b. Science Report on the 70mm Photography of the
Apollo 6 Mission, NASA Tech. Note S-217.
Lauer, D.T., S.A. Morain, and V.V. Salomonson, 1997. The Landsat
Program: Its origins, evolution, and impacts, Photogrammetric
Engineering 6.Remote Sensing, 63(7):831-838.
1148
October 1999
Lowman, P.D., Jr., 1965. Space photography - A review, Photogrammetric Engineering, 31(1):76-86.
, 1966. The earth from orbit, National Geographic, 130(5):644671.
, 1969a. Geologic orbital photography: Experience from the
Gemini Program, Photogrammetria, 24:77-106.
, 1969b. Apollo 9 Multispectml Photography: Geologic Analysis, X-644-69-423, Goddard Space Flight Center, 53 p.
, 1980. The evolution of geological space photography, Remote
Sensing in Geology (B.S. Siegal and A.R. Gillespie, editors), John
Wiley, New York, pp. 91-115.
, 1996. T plus twenty-five years: A defense of the Apollo Program, Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, 49:71-79.
Lowman, P.D., Jr., J.A. McDivitt, and E.H. White, 11, 1966. Terrain
Photography on the Gemini N Mission: P r e l i m i n a ~Report,
NASA TN D-3982,15 p.
Lowman, P.D., Jr., and H.A. Tiedemann, 1971. Terrain Photography
from Gemini Spacecraft: Final Geologic Report, Goddard Space
Flight Center, X-644-71-15, 75 p.
Lillesand, T.M., and R.W. Kiefer, 1994. Remote Sensing and Image
Interpretation, Third Edition, John Wiley, New York, 750 p.
Mack, P.E., 1990. Viewing the Earth: The Social Construction of the
Landsat Satellite System, MIT Press, Cambridge, 270 p.
Mack, P.E., and R.A. Williamson, 1998. Observing the Earth from
space, Exploring the Unknown, Vol. 3 3.M. Logsdon, editor), SP4407, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, D.C., pp. 155-177.
McDonald, R.A., 1997. CORONA: Success for space reconnaissance,
a look into the Cold War, and a revolution for intelligence, Photogrammetric Engineering S.Remote Sensing, 63:689-720.
Merifield, P.M., and J. Rarnmelkamp, 1964. Photo Interpretation of
White Sands Rocket Photography, Report No. 2, Contract NAS53390, Lockheed California Company, 76 p.
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PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
Merifield, P.M., J. Cronin, L.L. Foshee, S.J. Gawarecki, J.T. Neal, R.E.
Stevenson, R.O. Stone, and R.S. Williams, Jr., 1969. Satellite imagery of the Earth, Photogrammetric Engineering, 653654468.
Newell, H.E., 1980.Beyond the Atmosphere: Early Years of Space
Science, Special Publication 4211,National Aeronautics and
Space Adminstration, 497 p.
O'Keefe, J.A., L. Dunkelman, S.D. Soules, W.F. Huch, and P.D.Lowman, Jr., 1963. Observations of space phenomena, Mercury Project Summary, Including Results of the Fourth Manned Orbital
Flight, Special Report 45,National Aeronautics and Space Adminstration, Washington, D.C., 445 p.
Pecora, W.T., 1969. Earth resource observations from an orbiting
spacecraft, Manned Laboratories in Space (S.F. Singer, editor),
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Vincent, R.K., 1997. Geological and Environmental Remote Sensing,
Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 366 p.
(Received 12 August 1998;accepted 10 September 1998;revised 03
November 1998)
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