158 a
James Lovell or Buzz Aldrin

The Agena tethered to the spacecraft over the cloud-covered Pacific Ocean

Gemini XII, November 11-15, 1966, orbit 32

Unreleased photograph, vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based Kodak paper, 28 x 22cm, with McDonnell Douglas credit stamp (indicating the print was made in 1967), “D4C 42059” stamp and “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the verso (NASA / McDonnell Douglas) [NASA S-66-62944]

158 b
Buzz Aldrin or James Lovell

The Agena tethered to the spacecraft over the cloud-covered Pacific Ocean

Gemini XII, November 11-15, 1966, orbit 32

Vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based Kodak paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with NASA MSC caption and “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the verso, numbered “NASA S-66-62953” in red in top margin

158 c
James Lovell or Buzz Aldrin

Earth’s limb at Sunset

Gemini XII, November 11-15, 1966, orbit 32, 051:10:00 GET

Vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based Kodak paper, 28 x 22cm, with McDonnell Douglas credit stamp (indicating the print was made in 1967), “D4C 42056” stamp and “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the verso (NASA / McDonnell Douglas) [NASA S-66-62966]
28 x 22cm (11 x 9in)

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Lot Essay

158 a
The photograph was taken with the Hasselblad Super Wide camera and its 38mm lens.

“This photograph was taken from Gemini XII above the Pacific. It shows the spacecraft tethered to the Agena target vehicle, with both maintaining a preferred orientation. This exercise demonstrated the feasibility of achieving stabilized orientation between two maneuverable spacecraft at slightly different altitudes, connected by a flexible tether. At the beginning of the exercise the two spacecraft were docked, the tether having been connected during Aldrin’s umbilical EVA. The vehicles were pitched to a vertical stable attitude, undocked, and separated, extending the tether. The second attempt to ‘capture’ or establish the gravity-gradient-stabilization mode was judged successful in that the orientation was held for approximately 90 minutes with all control systems turned off. This successful demonstration promises a most useful technique for station-keeping spacecraft with minimum fuel expenditure,” noted Frank Bogart, NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight (Cortright, p. 184).

158 b
The photograph was taken with the Hasselblad Super Wide camera and its 38mm lens. A 100-foot tether line connects the Agena with the spacecraft.

From the mission transcript during orbit 32:

050:53:18 Lovell: Unless you want us to continue gravity gradient, we can get off the tether anytime you want us to. [...]
050:54:27 Capcom (Mission Control): Gemini XII, we would like you to continue this gradient exercise through the rest of this day pass, nighttime, and then separate upcoming Sunrise.

158 c
This amazing photograph was taken with the Hasselblad Super Wide camera and its 38mm lens.

“When you look at a Sunset or at a Sunrise from here on Earth, what you see are basically the reds and the golds. In space those colors are very luminous. It’s what Scott Carpenter described once: it’s like looking in a campfire. You can’t capture that on film; it’s something that’s just inherent in the relationship between that glow and the human eye. In space the light at each Sunset and each Sunrise comes to you refracted through the Earth’s atmosphere. You have the whole spectrum, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, all split out in that same luminous glowing color just like a prism,” said the first American in orbit John Glenn (Schick and Van Haaften, p. 18).