Professional photographer Blair Bunting has accomplished the impossible: the first ever photo session on the border with space on a military spy plane, the U2 Dragon Lady. During a two-hour flight near the stratosphere, he captured photos that no one had ever taken before and probably never would again.
The U2 Dragon Lady is a high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft developed by Lockheed Skunk Works in 1955. It has been in service with the US Air Force for almost 70 years. During the Cold War, it was a high-altitude spy plane, and today U2 collects intelligence information from an altitude of more than 20 km, which is twice the height of commercial aircraft.
Deadly conditions
Of course, many highly qualified photographers and filmmakers have been taking pictures from a height for decades before. But taking pictures with the U2 Dragon Lady is a challenge even for experienced specialists, because this is a completely different type of aircraft. Unlike supersonic fighters of the US Air Force, the U2 flies differently. It is smooth, slow, but it is gaining altitude that no other aircraft could have dreamed of. There, at the border with the stratosphere, an exciting panorama opens — the dream of every photographer.
The pilots of this super-complex aircraft must wear a special high-altitude spacesuit, and the Dragon Lady rises to a height where ultra-low temperatures and low pressure are fatal to humans — this flight is a real challenge for daredevils. The cockpit is very limited in visibility and very cramped, so pilots train for hundreds of hours to pilot it or perform any tasks in such difficult conditions. Add to this the huge size of the spacesuit, in which even holding the camera in your hands becomes almost impossible.
U2 is a spy plane. Therefore, almost everything related to these planes is shrouded in mystery. The names and faces of the pilots are hidden from the public, and the exact altitude at which the planes fly is classified. As a result, there are very few high-quality photos from U2. Pilots take photos from smartphones from time to time, for example, when they shot down Chinese balloons over the United States. But no one has ever taken a single commercial-quality photo from the U2 before.
Photo session at an altitude of 20 km
Having been instructed and trained before the flight, Bunting performed his photo session during the meeting of two U2 aircraft at high altitude, which gave him a unique angle for the session. Only astronauts get a better angle than on U2.
The photographer recorded an incredibly beautiful breathtaking space landscape in two hours of flight. The photographer even managed to capture the nearby Dragon Lady against the background of the curvature of the Earth, when the colors danced in the remnants of the atmosphere. Bunting was even allowed to capture the cockpit of the aircraft, where it was noticeable how the glass was covered with ice.
All photos are absolutely real and have no effects or processing.
“Everything was impressive! The view of the Sun and Moon at the same time against the background of a black sky looks completely different. At this height, the curvature of the Earth and its incredible beauty are noticeable,” Bunting tells his impressions.
Descent from the top of rapture to earthly awareness
After two hours on the edge of space, Bunting and his pilot returned to Earth, completing an exciting experiment and leaving a world mark in the history of photography.
“After having lunch, squeezed out of a metal tube, and drinking like a hamster, the pilot and I decided it was time to return to the base. What is crazy about the U2 is that, at the altitude we were at, it might take just 45 minutes to ascend, but it can take hours to descend. The plane claws at any piece of the atmosphere it can, as if yearning to come home just as much as I was,” says Bunting.
The photographer was immersed for several hours in a world that many dream of seeing, and this photo session became the most important achievement in his career.
“There were periodic points in the descent when I realized I had just accomplished something no professional photographer had done before. More than anything, I was humbled to even have the opportunity to do a photo shoot that no man could ever have deserved, especially not me,” Bunting sums up.
This photo session has given unique pictures that reveal the beauty and mystery of near space, and will leave an unforgettable mark in the history of photography.
Earlier we talked about the historical jump from space.
More pictures can be seen on the official website of the photographer blairbunting.com
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