633 a
Harrison Schmitt, Eugene Cernan, or Ronald Evans

Close-ups of a small mare on the lunar farside seen from the orbiting spacecraft

Apollo 17, December 7-19, 1972, orbit 4

Two unreleased photographs, vintage chromogenic prints on fiber-based Kodak paper, each 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in) and with “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the verso, numbered “NASA AS17-151-23191 and AS17-151-23192” (NASA MSC) in red in top margin

633 b
Eugene Cernan

The Command Spacecraft America over the lunar farside

Apollo 17, December 7-19, 1972, orbit 12, 110:53:28 GET

Unreleased photograph, vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based Kodak paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in),with “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the verso, numbered “NASA AS17-147-22462” in red in top margin (NASA MSC)

633 c
Eugene Cernan

The Command Module America flying at low altitude over the Taurus-Littrow landing site

Apollo 17, December 7-19, 1972, orbit 12, 110:59:42 GET

Vintage chromogenic print on resin coated Kodak paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with NASA Goddard caption and “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the verso [NASA AS17-147-22465]
20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in)

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Lot Essay

633 a
These photographs show a small 50-km lunar mare called Lacus Oblivionis (name adopted by the IAU in 1976) located north of Sniadecki Crater and were taken through the 250mm telephoto lens from 105km above the surface with a Sun elevation of 13°. Latitude / Longitude: 20.4° S / 168.9° W.

“I look at it very three-dimensionally. I mean I can look beyond the moon. I can see the three
dimensions,” noted Eugene Cernan. “I think, prior to going there, and I think most people just look at it as something flat out there in the night sky. But I look at it as a sphere. I can feel the depth of it. I know that it is in inner space. I mean, I know that it’s not at the end of that blackness” (Chaikin, Voices, p. 180).

633 b
Taken with the 60mm lens and the transparent glass reseau plate engraved with grid markings
of the lunar surface Hasselblad camera from the window of the LM Challenger at a low altitude
of 69 km above the lunar surface, shortly after separation and prior to landing on revolution 12.
Lunar lands between craters Firsov and Saenger are in the background.

110:53:31 Cernan: Hey, Ron; listen. This ridge you’re coming on over - just stick your hand out the hatch and grab a rock.
110:53:35 Evans: Looks like it’s pretty low down there.
110:53:39 Cernan: Well, when you’re up here looking at where you are, it even looks lower. [...]
110:58:06 Cernan: Gordo (Fullerton, at Mission Control), this is spectacular. It is absolutely spectacular looking at that command module, America, down there coming across the surface. We’re just tracking him at about a 30-degree dive angle.

633 c
“The CSM America, seen as a small dot near the center of the photograph, is framed against the Taurus-Littrow landing site in this dramatic westlooking view taken with the 60mm lens from the LM at an altitude of only 26km during its descent to the lunar surface. The South Massif is the large mountain just beyond the CSM. The valley of Taurus-Littrow is in the center of the picture, with the South Massif above the valley and the North Massif to the right. The crests of South Massif and North Massif are 2,500 and 2,100 meters, respectively, above the landing site. There is a cluster of small craters in the center of the valley. The LM landed just north of this cluster, to the right in this view. Mare Serenitatis is visible at the top of the picture, above the mountains” (NASA SP-330, p. 4.11, and http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/missions/apollo/apollo_17/landing_site/).

110:59:42 Cernan: Gordo, we got the landing site. We’re coming right over the front of it. Stand by a minute. You can see the Slide. I think you can see the Great Cross.
110:59:54 Fullerton (Mission Control): Roger.
110:59:57 Cernan: We’ll get a picture of America coming right across it.
111:00:00 Fullerton (Mission Control)