We have Ted Kennedy to thank for being able to see ourselves with the clarity of outer space

Everyone who knew him admired him, deeply respected him and will miss his energy, drive and steadfast beliefs. As these weeks go by, eulogies and op-ed pieces will seek to recount the good and bad of the man, chronicle the success and fervent attempts at success of the politician, reveal and explore his devotion to the nation, and firmly, properly, affix his star to those of his illustrious brothers (all three) and sisters.

The nation will mourn, as people who did not know him personally will try to comprehend what the fuss is all about. The fuss is all about achievement, a sure guiding hand, the loss of a national father figure and, above all, a great man of vision.

My family has known the Kennedys well for almost 80 years. My mother, Maria, is desperately sad at her “friend Teddy’s passing.� I grew up with their family’s influence always on the edges of ours, their helping hand at the ready for advice, and — in one case for me personally — a chance to change the perspective of the nation. That is what I want to set down in the record today.

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When man first set foot on the moon and brought back images, the cover of Life magazine was a fuzzy print of a sixth-generation dupe of that historic shot taken at Tranquility Base. In 1984, Ansel Adams encouraged me to probe and find out why there were almost no personal images of the astronauts’ experience. Ansel knew that the human experience is only that which can encourage public support of this great exploration into space.

So I trooped down to Houston and, at the Johnson Space Center, I found out that NASA only took images in space as a measuring tool — they used the scientific, non-artistic approach to their jobs. So, by the time the public affairs department (PAO, they handle the press) got a copy of any images taken, they were fifth-generation copies they promptly relabeled “Master Copy.�

When Life Magazine asked for that historic shot, they saw the word “Master� and assumed it was the flight film. They got a dupe (duplicate) to use for their cover printing.

Where was the flight film? Three days after the return of every mission it was frozen, in Building 2, at 16 degrees Fahrenheit, there to remain ever after, undisturbed.

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The public had, in 1984, never seen an image from space approximating the clarity and beauty of space. Never once. NASA did not see the point. And they refused to even consider our program, which I called “Sightseeing.� You see, I wanted to make an exhibit printed off of flight film celebrating the astronauts’ vision. Sounds simple, no? I tried for five months to get them to see reason. Even the PAO in Houston kept encouraging me — they knew the advantage of public opinion, even if their higher-ups did not. We had to break their system somehow.

Eventually, I called Sen. Kennedy and asked for his help with the Senate Committee for Science and Technology. Within two weeks our project — to this day still open and running, the only one with unlimited access to images from space — was reluctantly approved. When we unfroze the flight film and selected images for printing in a seriously cold clean room, what was revealed was proof positive of mankind’s greatest exploration: The earth was perfect in every detail and stitching on uniforms was perfectly clear, even 200 yards away.

You see, in space there is no atmosphere to blur images. These images could only be taken there, only be taken off planet, only act as signposts toward man’s next frontier. Arthur C. Clarke wrote the introduction to a book published by Knopf, Ansel was as pleased as punch, the National Air & Space Museum had the first exhibit and two identical exhibits are still touring, 24 years later in far-off countries (making them the most viewed art exhibit ever), promoting NASA and human exploration of space.

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What was the outcome at NASA? What did Sen. Kennedy unleash? Now, when any flight into space comes back, the PAO gets a first-generation copy of every image (except those DOD wants suppressed — the clarity is such that you can see subs under the Atlantic or a man reading a newspaper). Every book on space since 1985, every magazine piece, every evening news shot of images — moving or still — from space now show the real frontier, in all its other-worldliness clarity, thanks to Sen. Kennedy.

It may seem a small thing, in comparison to his other lifetime achievements, but hundreds of years from now, as we step onto distant planets, it can only be seen as a critical, unique step in the right direction, empowering the public, encouraging the eye to see what the heart knows it wants: exploration. It is in our genes.

Come to think of it, that critical step, so generously taken, was typical of the vision of the man. Please, as you remember him, add it to the list of his extraordinary life’s achievements.

Peter Riva, formerly of Amenia Union, lives in New Mexico.