News

NASA aborts photo kiosk plans

May 22, 2002

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A conversion from traditional film to digital photography has been halted on the launch pad by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, even though NASA has already purchased a $5,000 digital photo kiosk.

The kiosk was to make its debut in late May as part of Space Flight Awareness week and a May 30 space-shuttle launch. During such events, NASA photographers usually take pictures of event attendees and mail them copies. The digital photo kiosk, made by Pixel Magic Imaging Inc., was purchased to allow the photographers to deliver the photos immediately.

But the Wall Street Journal reported on May 23 that NASA bureaucrats -- concerned over the impact the kiosk would have with existing contracts with film-processing labs -- were not ready to convert to digital photography and put the project on hold.

"Some people once upon a time didn't want to drive cars," Ray Downward, a technical monitor for NASA imaging services, told the Journal. "We have those people in photography who don't want to get away from film."

The kiosk currently resides in the photo lab at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Cape Canaveral. Downward said the machine would probably be used as a backup for Marshall's current photo lab.