The Soviet space program kept both failures and successes a secret. It was only until the collapse of the Soviet Union that most images from their space program were accessible to the West. Though many have forgotten about them, a small number of enthusiastic collectors and conservators have made these images available on the web - modern image processing has provided clearer versions of many these images (see before/after Venera 13 image below). It is worth taking a moment to browse Ted Stryk’s amazing gallery of early and modern space images and Don Mitchell’s catalog of early (and rare) Soviet space images.

•Luna 9 - the first images of the surface of the Moon.

•Reprocessed Venera Lander images of the surface of Venus - perhaps the first clear images of the surface of Venus.

•The Phobos 2 color images of Mars and its asteroid moon Phobos.

Venera 13 (surface of Venus) before and after image processing by Stryk.

Luna 17 image of the surface of the Moon, from Mitchell’s catalog.

Tags: infinite coolness, outerspace, photography, websites
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