SpaceX Dragon Capsule—click thumbnail image to view full panorama

Back in 2010, we were hired by SpaceX to document the interior of their now famous Dragon Capsule. We had shot an engineering sample of the outer shell when we covered the Wired NextFest in 2007, but by 2010, the actual module was assembled, rich with modular interior features.

Now that SpaceX has announced its plans to visit the International Space Station later this year, they have unveiled the PictureBubbles° panorama that we created. And the LA Times took notice.

This was an incredibly challenging shoot. Not only was this a cramped space to work in, with barely enough room for one person to stand, but we had the additional challenge of needing to open the floor hatches. And we needed to make sure that all of the shots would line up in 3D-space so that they could be blended together for the final presentation. We shoot with a tripod, so that took some ingenuity.

(Behind-the-scenes photography to come, subject to approval by SpaceX and NASA.)

We positioned the camera and tripod in the center of the Dragon capsule for most of the shots. But when we started opening the hatches on the floor, there was no longer a place for the tripod to stand. We then shot a series of photos with the tripod elevated off the floor (by inserting the legs into the rigging on the sides). It was makeshift, but it worked extremely well.

The greatest bit of trivia: during some of the spin-arounds, there were two people in the capsule at all times: me operating the camera, and a SpaceX engineer moving things that I was not even close to allowed to touch. Bear that in mind while scrolling around.

There is a TON of Photoshop magic hiding how all of that came together, but we’re really proud of it.

You can visit SpaceX’s website to see the panorama with ISS and space-view simultations.