Long-time AP photographer Edward Kolenovsky dies at 87

HOUSTON (AP) — Edward F. Kolenovsky, who covered the development of the U.S. space program, prize fights and many other major events during a long career as an Associated Press photographer, died Tuesday.

Kolenovsky was a fixture at the Johnson Space Center, covering spaceflights for the AP from the Gemini program, where two astronauts flew together in a spacecraft for the first time, through the Apollo moon missions and then the space shuttle.

On the morning of the Challenger disaster in January 1986, Kolenovsky was stationed as usual in a trailer at the space center in Houston where he monitored and photographed images from a NASA live broadcast, and he moved a photo of icicles dangling from the launch vehicle in the abnormally cold weather.

Kolenovsky routinely was assigned to the major sports events of his era and followed Muhammad Ali around the world for heavyweight fights.