35 mm film is the basic
film gauge most commonly used for both still
photography and
motion pictures, and remains relatively unchanged since its introduction in 1892 by
William Dickson and
Thomas Edison, using
film stock supplied by
George Eastman. The
photographic film is cut into strips 35 mm (about 1 3/8 inches) wide — hence the name. The standard
negative pulldown is four
perforations per
frame along both edges, which makes for exactly 16 frames per foot.
A wide variety of largely proprietary gauges were used by the numerous different camera and projection systems independently invented around the late 19th century and early 20th century, ranging from 13 mm to 75 mm (0.51–2.95 in). Its longevity is largely because its size allows for a relatively good tradeoff between the cost of the film stock and the quality of the images captured. Additionally, the ubiquity of 35 mm movie projectors in commercial movie theaters makes it the only motion picture format, film or video, which can be played in almost any cinema in the world.
Christopher Columbus Kraft, Jr. (born
February 28,
1924) is a retired
NASA engineer and manager. After graduating from
Virginia Tech University in 1944, Kraft was hired by the
National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the predecessor organization to the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). He worked for over a decade in aeronautical research before being asked in 1958 to join the
Space Task Group, a small team entrusted with the responsibility of putting America's first man in space. Assigned to the flight operations division, Kraft became NASA's first
flight director. He was on duty during such historic missions as America's
first spaceflight,
first orbital flight and
first spacewalk.
At the beginning of the Apollo program Kraft retired as a flight director in order to concentrate on management and mission planning. In 1972 he became director of the Manned Spacecraft Center (later Johnson Space Center), following in the footsteps of his mentor Robert Gilruth. He held the position until his retirement from NASA in 1982. During his retirement, Kraft has consulted for numerous companies including IBM and Rockwell International, and he published an autobiography entitled Flight: My Life in Mission Control.
