Nothing Beats an Astronaut

The last Apollo lunar landing took place in 1972, but at www.Moonpans.com – a website dedicated to US moon missions – visitors can still find Apollo “flown items” (artifacts and spacecraft checklist pages that actually were onboard the Apollo spacecraft and flown to the moon) as well as astronaut autographs, lunar meteorites, spacecraft models, and much more.

In addition, Moonpans.com owner Mike Constantine has produced exclusive high-res Apollo Panorama prints. Each panoramic print is made from approximately 20 separate images, originally 70-mm transparencies, taken by the astronauts on the lunar surface in a full 360-degree sweep, and then digitized by NASA.

Constantine has stitched together these images in Adobe Photoshop, and outsourced them to Denver-based Reed Art & Imaging (www.reedphoto.com) for printing. Output is on Fuji Crystal Archive paper via the shop’s Océ LightJet, at sizes from 8 x 23 to 18 x 90 inches.

“Mike is also having us print these images as canvas wraps, which are a whole different presentation from the traditional framed prints,” says Gary Reed of Reed Art & Imaging. “We have been shipping worldwide to his clients for years now – and many times to the astronauts themselves.” In addition, the shop has produced 44 x 84-inch mural panels from these images for a museum; the final display measures 37-feet long by 84-inches high.

MOONPANS
www.moonpans.com

REED ART & IMAGING
www.reedphoto.com