Mark Megahan
Breathtaking images from the edge of space, captured by 41 year-old Advertising photographer Blair Bunting, should shut all those “Flat-Earth” types up for good. The highly classified crews who keep our U-2 spy planes in the air get to wear a nifty patch which declares “Not Flat, We Checked.”
Images of spy plane at work
It’s not often that the Pentagon calls someone up and invites them to take images of their secret spy planes. Especially when the whole idea is to make them public.
Photographer Blair Bunting lives in Phoenix, Arizona snapping pro shots for advertising campaigns. He’s also done a few spreads from inside the cockpit of a fighter jet.
In order to fly in America’s U-2 spy planes, you practically need to be an astronaut. While they don’t go walking out in space on a tether or any of the other things which go on routinely in orbit, they’re on the edge of space and subjected to the same dangers. Ones like explosive decompression.
The feds needed someone up to the physical rigors of the flight to capture just the right images for the PR project they planned.
The program has been up and running since the 1960’s and a couple of the planes have even been shot down, recovered and studied by the enemy. It’s about time the government provided the taxpayers with some images they can look at, to see where their money’s going. They didn’t divulge any secrets.
The plane can fly “at least” 70,000 feet high, which isn’t easy with no air to provide “lift.” They won’t say how much higher it can go but that’s how high they took Blair. Before he got a coveted ride in the “Dragon Lady,” he had to go through weeks of rigorous training.
An incredible experience
Once Blair was safely back on the ground, Mrs. Bunting was as relieved as he was that the ordeal was over. “It was an incredible experience that I will never forget,” he relates.
Along with some images released to the public, there’s a video which details the entire experience documentary style.
Viewers can tag along from his fitting for a space suit into his intensive crash course in astronaut training. He had to be fully briefed on every emergency scenario they might encounter.
He learned such useful information as if you find yourself parachuting down through the treetop canopy, DO NOT try to grab any branches to arrest your fall. That’s likely to rip your arms out. That’s included in the video images.
The most attention grabbing images he took were the ones which show the curve of the horizon. He relates the overwhelming emotions that struck him as they approached the 70,000 foot altitude mark. As the air thins away, the sky is replaced by the blackness of space.
“Not long after the sky had darkened, the sides of the horizon started to bend as if the pressure of the darkness above had forced them downward. At that moment, I was witnessing the curvature of the Earth. I allowed myself to take it in as much as I could, but as soon as I realized it was becoming too strong of an emotion, I diverted my attention to the project.“
