79 a
Taken by a 16mm McDonnell motion picture camera mounted by Ed White on outside of the spacecraft

First US Spacewalk, Ed White returning to the spacecraft at the end of the EVA

Gemini IV, June 3-7, 1965, orbit 3

Vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based Kodak paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with RCA Quality Control stamp, NASA KSC caption numbered “104-KSC-65PC-82” and “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the verso

79 b
Taken by a 16mm McDonnell motion picture camera mounted by Ed White on outside of the spacecraft

First US Spacewalk; Ed White returning to the spacecraft at the end of the EVA

Gemini IV, June 3-7, 1965, orbit 3

Vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based Kodak paper, 21.8 x 27.8cm, with McDonnell Aircraft Corporation credit stamp, “D4C 29047” stamp and “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the verso [NASA S-65-29766]
21.8 x 27.8cm (8¹⁄₂ x 11in)

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Lot Essay

79 a
“During the third orbit of Earth, Ed White opened the hatch of the capsule, pushed himself out and floated in space 135 miles above the planet for 21 minutes. ‘I was taking some big steps,’ said White. From the moment he stepped outside to his reclosing of the hatch, White’s seven-league boots covered some 6,000 miles” (National Geographic, September 1965, p. 443).

This view was captured by the 16mm camera (whose shadow appears on the open hatch door at lower right) that White had mounted outside the spacecraft just before his EVA.

From the mission transcript during the EVA:

004:46:55 McDivitt: How are you doing there?
004:46:56 White: I’m doing great. [...]
004:47:12 McDivitt: The spacecraft really looks like it’s outgassing because all the -whenever a little piece of dirt or something goes by it always heads for the door and goes right on out.
004:47:26 McDivitt: Okay, let’s --oops, take it easy now. Take it easy.
004:47:30 White: ..... I’m standing on top of it, right now.
004:47:52 McDivitt: Okay, ready on top. Come on in. [...]
004:47:51 White: Yeah ..... now.
004:47:56 McDivitt: Okay.
004:47:56 White: It’s no sweat. Actually, I’m trying to get a better picture.
004:47:58 McDivitt No, come on in.
004:48:00 White I’m trying to get a picture of the spacecraft now.
004:48:02 McDivitt: Ed, come on in here!
004:48:05 White: All right. Let me fold the camera and put the gun tip.

79 b
This view was captured by the 16mm camera (whose shadow appears on the open hatch door at lower right) that White had mounted outside the spacecraft just before his EVA.

Describing his experience as the first spacewalker (on Voskhod I, three months before Ed White), cosmonaut Alexei Leonov exclaimed, “I felt absolutely free, soaring like a bird... as though I had wings, as though I was flying by my own efforts” (Chaikin, Space, pp. 54-55).
Leonov’s spacewalk was recorded by a motion picture camera but no still photograph was taken.

From the mission transcript during the EVA:

004:48:26 McDivitt: Okay. Let’s not lose that camera now. I don’t quite have it. A little bit more, but easy, easy, easy.
004:48:32 White: Got it?
004:18:35 McDivitt: Okay, I’ve got it.
004:18:34 White: Okay, now I can enter
004:18:34 McDivitt: Okay, now I can enter ..... It’s just like we said ....
004:48:40 McDivitt: Yes, we sort of talked about that. But we sort of talked about that but they didn’t have any place for the camera. Come on, let’s get back here before it gets dark.
004:48:46 White: Okay. This is the saddest moment of my life.
004:48:53 McDivitt: Well you’re going to find a sadder one when we have to come down from this whole thing.
004:49:00 White: I’m coming.