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A rare surviving group of original third-generation duplicate film positives from NASA’s Skylab Earth Resources Experiment Package (EREP), comprising imagery from the S-190A mapping camera flown on Skylab 2 (June 1973) and Skylab 4 (February 1974). The group includes over twenty film sheets in both color-infrared and panchromatic, issued through the Johnson Space Center’s Photographic Technology Laboratory. The imagery prominently features White Sands, New Mexico, and surrounding areas of the southwestern United States, a region repeatedly targeted by Skylab for remote sensing calibration.
The group is housed in its original NASA polyethylene sleeve and bears adhesive classification labels marked “SKYLAB,” with mission number (SL-2 or SL-4), camera (“S-190A”), film type (“SO-356” and "2443"), frame ranges, and exposure dates (June 13, 1973; February 26, 1974). The labels are marked “3rd GEN. W/O 5515,” indicating unclassified, third-generation duplicates without form 5515 restrictions. The associated film sheets retain NASA JSC frame identifications along their borders and show clear vertical coverage of White Sands National Park, the Tularosa Basin, and surrounding mountainous terrain.
The S-190A camera, developed by Itek and Kodak, was mounted on Skylab’s Multiple Docking Adapter and used a 6-inch focal length with 5-inch-wide aerial film to capture vertical mapping photographs at 10–30 meter resolution. These were intended for geological, hydrological, agricultural, and urban land-use studies. White Sands was one of several designated calibration sites selected for its reflective gypsum surface, consistent weather, and contrast with nearby features. The camera’s imagery, when combined with S-190B multispectral data and astronaut photography, formed the basis of a large NASA experiment in orbital Earth observation and remote sensing methodology.
These third-generation positives were produced by NASA for scientific distribution after the master negatives and interpositives had been archived. While 70 mm Hasselblad astronaut photography is widely circulated, original S-190A mapping film is scarce on the market, especially with intact documentation and geographic specificity.
