Michael Collins

Sunrise on Earth before translunar injection

Apollo 11, July 16-24, 1969, 001:25:10 GET

Vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based Kodak paper with red NASA MSC caption numbered “AS11-36-5295” and “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the verso.
20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in)

This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.
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Lot Essay

As the crew was orbiting Earth’s nightside, Collins missed the opportunity to take a photo of the limb of the Earth at sunrise, having lost the Hasselblad camera in the cabin’s zero g five minutes earlier.
But he captured the glaring Sun in the sky above the ocean, rising rapidly as a result of their orbital motion.

001:18:04 Collins: Stand by for sunrise. [...]
001:19:57 Collins: Jesus Christ, look at that horizon!
001:19:59 Armstrong: Isn’t that something?
001:20:00 Collins: God damn, that’s pretty! This is unreal. I’d forgotten.
001:20:08 Armstrong: Get a picture of that.
001:20:10 Collins: Ooh, sure, I will. I’ve lost a Hasselblad. Has anybody seen a Hasselblad floating by? It couldn’t have gone very far, big son of a gun like that. [...]
001:22:13 Collins: I looked... I’ve looked everywhere over here for that Hasselblad, and I just don’t see it.
001:22:24 Armstrong: It’s too late for sunrise, anyway. [...]
001:22:28 Aldrin: But you want to get it before TLI. [Translunar Injection.]
001:22:30 Collins: ...I know it. That’s what I’m worried about. [...]
001:23:24 Collins: Ah! Here it is (the Hasselblad). [...]
001:24:17 Collins: I got a little horizon. Man, look at that! [...]
001:24:51 Collins: Fantastic. I have no conception of where we’re pointed or which way we are or a crapping thing, but it’s a beautiful low pressure cell out here.
001:25:10 Aldrin: Yes, go ahead and take a picture.