Camera Geekery: 1966 Gemini 9 Hasselblad SWC Replica

Something very special has come my way. A very rare 1966 Gemini 9 Hasselblad SWC Replica camera. Only 4-5 are known to exist and here is one of them, and you could be the next owner as this one is for sale. Check it out.

Hasselblad in space

Hasselblad is well known for their space cameras and the legacy that they have taken to and left in space. That NASA modified existing bodies purchased from a store in Houston is nothing short of amazing. Walter Schirra inspired NASA to look at the Swedish-built Hasselblad 70mm single-reflex camera after purchasing one for himself prior to his Mercury-Atlas 8 mission in 1962. The brand became a standard for astronaut photography. There is a full write up of the Hasselblad legacy on the site which you can read here.

Gemini 9

The Gemini 9 mission launched on 3 June 1966, piloted by Lieutenant Commander Eugene A. Cernan, USN. Gemini 9 completed 45 orbits over 3 days. Pilot Cernan successfully conducted a two-hour spacewalk. On Gemini 9, a modified SWC became a standard part of the photographic equipment sent into space.
On Gemini 10 Michael Collins lost a SWC while on a space walk. You can read more about that adventure at KosmoFoto.

HASSELBLAD SUPER WIDE C

A rare replica of the famous SWC camera made for NASA for the Gemini 9 mission (02-06 June 1966) with white lacquered magazine 12 no.CU40017, black Biogon 4.5/38mm no. 2992105, body engraved ‘Replica of modified HASSELBLAD SUPER WIDE C’.

The SWC of the first model were also marked “Replica of Modified Hasselblad Super Wide C”. It is probable that only 4 or 5 were made.

This camera was used in Hasselblad magazine, is illustrated in the Hasselblad System compendium reference book (page 122) and also shown (with a black magazine) in Alain Lazzarini’s book ‘Hasselblad and the Moon’, p.94 and 104-107

 Text taken from p.32 Hasselblad magazine issue 3 1966:

‘HASSELBLAD SWC with Biogon 38. In Gemini 9, the Hasselblad SWC with Zeiss Biogon f.4.5/38mm, which has a 90 degree angle-of-view, was tried in space for the first time. Like the 500C, this camera features the invaluable exchangeability of magazines. The finder in this is also of a simpler type so that the astronauts can use the camera even when their protective visors are lowered. The magazines for the SWC are painted white, while the camera itself is black. This camera went through a veritable “baptism of fire” when Eugene Cernan used it in total vacuum for over two hours outside Gemini 9.’

If you are interested in this camera it is for sale. Come and check out this remarkable piece of history, the link is here: 1966 Gemini 9 Hasselblad SWC Replica

How cool is this? A veritable piece of not only camera history, but an important part of human history as well. What do you think? Would you want this in your collection?

JCH