Name: The first view of the Earth from the Moon, August 23, 1966
Brand: Lunar Orbiter I
Price: 1400.00 GBP
Availability: SoldOut

Taken by a Kodak camera aboard the Lunar Orbiter I spacecraft

The first view of the Earth from the Moon
Lunar Orbiter I, August 23, 1966

Vintage gelatin silver print on fiber-based paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with NASA HQ caption numbered “66-H-1378” and dated “October 24, 1966” on the verso
20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in)

Cortright, pp. 84-85; Chaikin, Space, pp. 72-73; Newhall, pp. 118-119; Hope, p.16; Thomas, p. 128.

Zürich, Kunsthaus, Salzburg, Museum der Moderne, Fly me to the Moon, March-June 2019 and July-November 2019; exhibition catalogue, p. 62, no. 20, illustrated.

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Specified lots are being stored at Crozier Park Royal (details below) or will be removed from Christie’s, 8 King Street, London, SW1Y 6QT by 5.00pm on the day of the sale. Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite. If the lot has been transferred to Crozier Park Royal, it will be available for collection from 12.00pm on the second business day following the sale. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Crozier Park Royal. All collections from Crozier Park Royal will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com. If the lot remains at Christie’s, 8 King Street, it will be available for collection on any working day (not weekends) from 9.00am to 5.00pm
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Lot Essay

This high resolution photograph (full view of Lunar Orbiter frames I-102H2) was photographed with the 610mm lens from an altitude of 1198 km above the Moon over the 233-km Crater Pasteur (cut off at right) and the 173-km Crater Hilbert (cut off at left). The view is centered on a point of latitude: 14.68° S, longitude 104.34° E on the lunar farside.

This photograph is the re-enhanced version of the image which was transmitted to Earth on August 23, 1966 and first released a few days later. It was released again by NASA on October 24, 1966.

The NASA caption presented the photograph with Earth on the left of the Moon (since Earth’s North Pole was at the top) and described the view as “The world’s first view of the Earth taken by a spacecraft from the vicinity of the Moon”; but the world’s media instinctively rotated the image to show Earth above. It is a sight that has only ever been seen by the later Apollo astronauts as they came around the farside of the Moon and faced the Earth.