Abandoned in Place: Preserving America's Space History
Stenciled on many of the deactivated facilities at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the evocative phrase “abandoned in place” indicates the structures that have been deserted. Some structures, too solid for any known method of demolition, stand empty and unused in the wake of the early period of US space exploration. Now Roland Miller’s color photographs document the NASA, Air Force, and Army facilities across the nation that once played a crucial role in the space race.
Rapidly succumbing to the elements and demolition, most of the blockhouses, launch towers, tunnels, test stands, and control rooms featured in Abandoned in Place are located at secure military or NASA facilities with little or no public access. Some have been repurposed, but over half of the facilities photographed no longer exist. The haunting images collected here impart artistic insight while preserving an important period in history.
Abandoned in Place: Preserving America's Space History is available through the University of New Mexico Press and Amazon.com
“[Roland Miller] showcases images of deactivated and repurposed defense facilities and space-launch sites around the country.”
“Roland Miller is on a mission to document the deserted sites of America’s space race”
“Chronicles long-neglected and largely forgotten aspects of US space history.”
“Abandoned in Place can be read as a reverent tour of history, but it’s also a touchstone to a way of looking at the world and the future that unified a nation in ways that few things can.”
“More than just a remembrance of a lost age of infrastructure, Abandoned in Place is a meditation on landscapes of immense historical significance that are overlooked by historic preservation.”
“[Miller] is completely connected to his subjects, and his photographs are a visual extension, filled with reverence and empathy.”
“Abandoned in Place beautifully documents, both in images and words, the architecture and engineering of a period in which anything was possible: the first Space Age.”