Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Apollo 13 load on deck

 
Edit 1 - Apollo 13 Command module being successfully recovered after its crew survived a critical malfunction en route to the Moon.
 
Original - Command module being loaded onto deck of the USS Iwo Jima
Reason
The image meets the criteria for resolution, even as a historic photograph (1970). I'm not familiar with the technical issues that FPC usually gets into, but from my novice viewpoint, it seems like a very clear, well-constructed, informative photograph. Its impressiveness is amplified by the fact that it is a color photograph in 1970, for which I would have expected much lower quality.
Its encyclopedia value is strong: it is the only exterior photograph of the Command Module in the article, so it uniquely illustrates a major component of the topic (for instance, lots of people around to illustrate relative size, etc. to allow the reader to visualize it). Apollo 13 endured a major spaceflight malfunction that put the lives of the astronauts in jeopardy, and so the fact that they managed to return is remarkable; and this is an image of the vessel in which they survived. It that sense, the gravity of the event being illustrated is all the greater.
This image was seconded at Picture Peer Review (Wikipedia:Picture peer review/Apollo 13 load on deck), and the image being nominated is Edit 1, which crops out the blurred foreground at the bottom.
Articles this image appears in
Apollo 13
Space accidents and incidents (I just added it there myself)
Creator
NASA photograph, public domain
  • Support as nominator --Dylan (talk) 17:28, 20 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support. Very interesting, especially with all the visible damage to the module.--ragesoss (talk) 18:17, 20 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Conditional support Top enc, but needs a better caption. Also, AFAIK, the "damage" has nothing to do with the Apollo 13 explosion, all capsules look like this when they are hoisted aboard (it's the heat from re-entry). If this capsule had been damaged, the crew wouldn't have had a chance... This should be reflected in the caption, in order to avoid misunderstandings like above. --Janke | Talk 18:27, 20 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Apollo13-load on deck crop1.jpg MER-C 09:53, 26 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]