National Geographic Magazine - UK October 2023

IN A SERIES of articles from the mid-1960s into the early ’70s, National Geographic covered the findings, the adventures, and the significance of NASA’s Apollo missions to the moon. As Editor Gilbert M. Grosvenor wrote in our September 1973 issue, the moon was the “first port of call on man’s greatest voyage of discovery.” He also noted that the Apollo program’s value went far beyond what we were learning about space: Apollo sparked hope that we could, with a similar commitment, find “an answer to the energy crisis, the environmental crisis, and to every other major problem of humanity.” Half a century later, we’re in a new era of exploration and discovery in space while facing acute problems on our own planet. And, perhaps fittingly, we are once again setting…

Chris Gunn Based in Washington, D.C., Gunn focuses on science and technology. As a contract photographer for NASA, he took the lead on documenting the building of the James Webb Space Telescope. His images have appeared in publications such as the New York Times and Popular Science. Pages 8, 112 Dan Winters From rock stars to rocket launches, Winters covers a wide range of topics. His work has been featured in Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone, among others, and has won a World Press Photo Award. To honor World Bee Day in 2021 for National Geographic, he photographed Angelina Jolie swarmed by the insects. Page 50 Nadia Drake As a longtime contributor to National Geographic, Drake has written about people’s obsession with Mars, the mysteries of Saturn’s rings, and why…

Carsten Peter “It’s not like I’m actively looking for danger,” Peter says. “I want to show people the wonders of nature.” This is why he descends into ice shafts, enters acid waterfalls, and chases tornadoes (for which he earned a World Press Photo Award). An Explorer since 1998, the German photographer, filmmaker, and adventurer specializes in extreme environments. For the November 2022 issue of National Geographic, Peter captured the violent volcanic eruption in Spain’s Canary Islands. This issue features his images of otherworldly settings on Earth. Page 112 Kenny Broad An environmental anthropologist and University of Miami professor, Broad has visited every continent during his scientific and filmmaking forays. For a 1995 magazine story, he braved one of the world’s deepest caves, in Oaxaca, Mexico. He’s been an Explorer since…

JULY 10, 2014 Engineers at Northrop Grumman in Redondo Beach, California, prepare to unfurl a test version of the five-layer sun shield, designed to keep the new observatory cool. APRIL 25, 2016 Seven years into Chris Gunn’s time photographing the construction, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) begins to take shape. In a clean room at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, technicians remove protective covers from segments of the gold-coated primary mirror. DECEMBER 1, 2017 From a lift eight stories high, Gunn captures the JWST as it is moved out of the thermal vacuum chamber where it had undergone cryogenic testing for about a hundred days at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. After the successful test, the workers’ excitement was palpable, Gunn says: “That much closer…

IF YOU SEE ANY photographs of the James Webb Space Telescope being built, it’s a good bet that Chris Gunn made them. In 2009 NASA selected Gunn as the full-time scientific and technical photographer to embed with the engineering team at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. He spent 12 years documenting the observatory’s construction, from the arrival of the first “chassis” to its launch into space. Did Gunn capture every nut, bolt, and mirror? “In a generic sense, yes, but I’m sure there are some nuts and bolts that I didn’t photograph,” he replies with a chuckle. “For me, the magic comes when the big pieces start to get assembled and you can start to call it a telescope,” he says. “When some of the more exotic…

AS A WORKING-CLASS YOUTH in London, Brian May first built his own telescope. Then he built his own electric guitar. Two days after earning a bachelor’s degree in physics, he was onstage with his band, opening for Pink Floyd. It was 1968. Today May, 76, is known as one of the greatest guitarists in rock history. This month he’s back on the road with the latest incarnation of Queen, the legendary band he co-founded with Roger Taylor and the late Freddie Mercury. Also this month: publication day for May’s latest book, an atlas of the asteroid Bennu, featuring May’s stereoscopic photography. I met May in 2015 when he was working with NASA’s New Horizons mission. He’s now a friend; we share a fascination with the stars (he earned a Ph.D.…