636 a
Eugene Cernan

Harrison Schmitt with the Earth above the American flag

Apollo 17, December 7-19, 1972, EVA 1, 118:25:54 GET

Vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based Kodak paper, 19.2 x 25.3cm, stamped “AS17-134-20384” (NASA MSC) and with “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the verso

636 b
Harrison Schmitt

Portrait of Eugene Cernan holding the American flag

Apollo 17, December 7-19, 1972, EVA 1, 118:26:26 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 AS17-134-20385” (NASA MSC) in red in top margin
20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in)

636 a
Chaikin, Space, pp. 132-33; Schick and Van Haaften, p. 65; Hope, p. 35; Reynolds, pp.258-259.

636 a
Zürich, Kunsthaus, Salzburg, Museum der Moderne, Fly me to the Moon, March-June 2019 and July-November 2019; exhibition catalogue, p. 62, no. 57, illustrated.

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Lot Essay

636 a
“I captured the Earth, the Moon, the man, and the country all in one. I’m proud of this picture,” said Eugene Cernan who is reflected in Schmitt’s visor (Schick and Van Haaften, p. 65).

NASA photography specialist Richard Underwood described the photograph as “one of the great photos ever to come out of the space program” (NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History).

118:25:37 Cernan: Well, I want to get something here.
118:25:46 Schmitt: What’s that?
118:25:47 Cernan: I want to get the Earth.
118:25:49 Schmitt: Okay. Let me get over here.
118:25:51 Cernan: Get around on that side.
118:25:54 Schmitt: I don’t think it’s going...You’re a little close, maybe, to have them both in focus. That might do it.

636 b
After he took a portrait of Schmitt with the US flag and the Earth, Cernan gave the camera to Schmitt and they traded places so that he could do the same. Schmitt can be seen in the reflection of Cernan’s gold-plated visor. The back of the Lunar Rover is visible at the left; the South Massif is in the background with the Earth just out of shot in the black lunar sky.

“We, as Americans, did not conquer the Moon, because that was not our aim,” said Ronald Evans. “But the American flag is up there and we proved to the rest of the world that our nation could do that. We could take a man from the Earth, send that man to the Moon, and then return him back to Earth. It created pride and gave us unprecedented prestige in the eyes of the rest of the world” (Schick and Van Haaften, p. 120).

118:26:08 Cernan: Try that one time, then we’ll give up and get to work. (Long Pause)
118:26:26 Cernan: Point it (the camera) up a little… Yeah.