Bill Taub Photos NASA Senior Photographer

Today marks what would have been the 100th birthday of NASA’s first photographer, William “Bill“ Taub. Bill was born in 1923 in Lorain, Ohio and was hired at NACA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. in 1942 as a pictorial draftsman. He was a self-taught photographer and was eventually named Langley’s chief photographer. When the Space Task Group at Langley was folded into NASA in 1958, Bill continued in that role for Project Mercury. In 1962, he was named NASA’s official senior photographer.  He remained with NASA through the Gemini and Apollo programs and retired in 1975. Bill passed away in 2010 in Bowie, Md. at age 86.

Our new book, “America’s First Astronauts: Project Mercury Through the Lens of Bill Taub,” draws from his personal archives to showcase some 600 of Bill’s never-before-seen Mercury photos. They provide a unique behind-the-scenes look at the people and operations of the first US manned space program in real time. Today we remember Bill’s historic work.