Behind the Lens of a Rocket Photographer
The Everyday Explorer Mission
In 1955, my father, Don DeFillips became one of the first NASA photographers. I vividly remember sitting inside our home darkroom, watching images develop before my eyes, and being fascinated by photography as a magical way to capture life's moments.
Dad is in each of the black/white photos on this page.
Top photo: Gordon Cooper on the Command Module. Dad is just right of the word Rocket with a camera in his hand. In the middle photo to the left, John Glenn sits below in the middle, Mercury-Atlas 6. Part of the Photo Lab, Dad kneels far left on the bottom row. Below, Dad sets up a shot on top of the VAB, looking out at the Launch pads of Cape Canaveral.
Do you know someone who worked as a photography contractor at Kennedy or Houston Space Centers? If so, would you share their information with me or my information with them? I'm writing a book to include first hand stories, photography, and the creativity produced while recording history!
Refer them to this website and to contact me!
COME BACK for fun space products and gifts, available in JULY.
My Background & Book Project
After purchasing my childhood home from my siblings, I dove into a dark room of negatives and file cabinet drawers lined with manila envelopes, with a few prints stuffed inside each folder. After gathering it all, I have over a thousand prints, some negatives, patches, and collectibles.
With photography from his archives, this book will include biographies from space program staff, historical content, and behind-the-scenes stories. It is a book for space novices or experts, focusing on the original photographers and many who supported the images recording the beginning of space exploration.
Please follow us on Instagram and Facebook as "theeveryday_explorer." Come along and share the journey!
Who am I?
Hello, my name is Helene DeFillips Milbert. My professional background is in marketing, business development,
technology, and telecommunications.
I embrace the world through photography, biographies, travel, and creativity. This world and beyond into space gives me renewed faith and inspiration. I hope to encourage you to explore it!
There is beauty in the natural world and everyday people.
I also love to travel to new and unfamiliar places and believe a picture can tell a powerful story.
All photography on this website is unedited and not photoshopped.
Some are from my father's archives, and others I took.
Contact me for permission to use them.