Olympus sending the E-3 DSLR into space

To celebrate its 90th birthday

27 February 2009 10:52 GMT / By Verity Burns

To celebrate its 90th birthday, Olympus has launched the Olympus Space Project that will see its E-3 DSLR camera being taken into outer space.

Dr Koichi Wakata, an astronaut from the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), will take the E-3 and two different Zuiko digital lenses into space on the next launch of Space Shuttle Discovery.

Their destination will be the Kibo - the Japanese experimental module within the International Space Station - where Wakata will take snaps of the Earth to appear in photo exhibitions and on the Olympus website.

The two high-grade pro lens units that have been chosen for the space mission are the Zuiko Digital 11-22mm 1:2.8-3.5 and the ED 50-200mm 1:2.8-3.5 SWD, both of which are splash and dustproof.

There have been no dates released as to when we can expect to see the photos, but we'll be sure to get them to you as soon as they're posted.