S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, the general contractor of the Russian Federal Space Agency on the program operating the International Space Station (ISS), has recently ordered one Nikon D3S and two Nikon D3X digital-SLR cameras, four interchangeable lenses including AF-S NIKKOR 400mm f/2.8G ED VR, software and various accessories, Nikon Corporation president Michio Kariya said. The equipment wwre installed in Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft that was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome last June 16. No special improvements or modifications were made to these products. They were the same products available to consumers, confirming the incredible reliability of the D3S, D3X and Nikkor lenses, the company said in a statement. The new equipment were used along with Nikon SLR cameras, such as the Nikon F5 film-SLR camera and D2X digital-SLR camera and a variety of NIKKOR lenses already used with on-board activities of Russian cosmonauts working in the Russian segment of ISS. Nikolay Cherlenyak, director of operations for Energia's ISS program, said: “The integration of Nikon photographic equipment in space exploration has a long history and goes back to the moment when there first arose the question of photographing research conducted in orbit. It was then when the first Nikon film cameras and Nikkor lenses, notable for precision and reliability, were sent into space. They had been used even on the station Mir. Since then, the range of photographic equipment has been frequently supplemented by new products and advanced developments of the Nikon Company. Now with the latest models of Nikon D3S and D3X digital cameras, photography in space will reach a new, previously unattainable level.”
