We’ve featured a great deal of thought-provoking works on alien worlds and space exploration, but today, the spotlight shines on something closer to home. Five decades after the historic Apollo 11 Moon landing, the Saturn V rocket remains a stunning reminder of humanity’s astronomical achievements in engineering and space flight. Photographer and videographer Zac Henderson captures its beauty in detail in his remarkable abstract series.

As Henderson stressed in his series description, to this day Saturn V remains the tallest, heaviest, and most powerful rocket ever put to use. With a maximum thrust of 7.5 million pounds, it was the launch vehicle that made it possible for mankind to reach another celestial body — and still the only one to do so. Built at a time when space flight required “a herculean effort in practical science, engineering, and cooperation,” it continues to be a symbol of our hopes for space exploration.

“Through sheer force, it is a testament to our willingness and capability to go beyond ourselves and our prescribed home, our oasis in the universe, and to seek out new wolds as a space faring species.” 

In his series, Henderson chose to focus on the details of the Saturn V instead of photographing the rocket in its entirety, as most would likely do. This approach allows us to view and appreciate it from an abstract perspective. Every bit of detail and even the color palette scream science fiction, but the mere mention of it being Saturn V immediately reminds us that it’s actually science fact. All those curves, lines, shapes, and details draw our attentoin to the bigness of it all — all the big hopes, dreams, and efforts to venture far from home and seek other worlds waiting to be discovered.

Do check out Zac Henderson’s website and Behance portfolio to see more of his works.

All photos by Zac Henderson. Used with Creative Commons permission.