656 a
Taken by the RCA TV Camera mounted on the Lunar Rover

Schmitt holding the lunar rake near Tracy’s Rock, station 6

Apollo 17, December 7-19, 1972, EVA 3, 165:31:57 GET

Unpublished B&W TV still from a color television transmission, vintage gelatin silver print on fiber-based paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), stamped “RCA Astro-Electronics 72-12-529” on the verso (NASA / RCA)

656 b
Eugene Cernan

Harrison Schmitt at Tracy’s Rock, station 6

Apollo 17, December 7-19, 1972, EVA 3, 165:34:53 GET

Vintage chromogenic print on resin coated Kodak paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with NASA Goddard caption numbered “AS17-140-21496” and “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the verso

656 c
Harrison Schmitt

Fogged telephoto view of the source outcrop in the North Massif for Tracy’s Rock

Apollo 17, December 7-19, 1972, EVA 3, 165:45:27 GET

Unreleased photograph, vintage gelatin silver print on fiber-based paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), numbered “NASA AS17-139-21187” (NASA MSC) in black in top margin

656 d
Harrison Schmitt

Accidental 500 mm shot showing the near surface, station 6

Apollo 17, December 7-19, 1972, EVA 3, 165:46:26 GET

Unreleased photograph, vintage gelatin silver print on fiber-based paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), numbered “NASA AS17-139-21187” (NASA MSC) in black in top margin

656 e
Eugene Cernan

Harrison Schmitt taking 500mm photographs at Tracy’s Rock, station 6

Apollo 17, December 7-19, 1972, EVA 3, 165:49:31 GET

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 AS17-146-22294” (NASA MSC) in red in top margin
20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in)

656 b
Chaikin, Space, p. 133; Chaikin, A Man on the Moon, pp. 272-73;
Reynolds, pp.208-09.

656 e
Chaikin, A Man on the Moon, p.246; Reynolds, p. 201; Hope, p. 34.

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Lot Essay

656 a
The astronauts were collecting samples in a small crater down below Tracy’s Rock.
Cernan’s backpack is visible behind the boulder.

165:31:57 Parker (Mission Control): Okay. We copy that. And we’re ready for you guys to leave this rock and press on and either get the rake soil and cores near that crater down below the rock just a shade (that is, a short distance), or else go on to some other different variety rocks in the area.
165:32:20 Schmitt: Well, I tell you, going down to that crater is not a problem. Getting back up is.

656 b
A superb frame of the panoramic sequence taken by Cernan upslope from Tracy’s Rock.
Schmitt carries the gnomon after sampling and collecting fragments of the split boulder.

“At the far right of the photograph, just above the rock, the astronauts’ LM Challenger can be seen as a distant speck sitting at the right edge of the lighter area” (Reynolds, p.208).

The East Massif (left) and Bear Mountain (right) form the skyline in the background.

165:33:38 Cernan: I just got to get a place I can get a pan from. Right here. Right in this little hole. (Pause) (Gesturing) Okay, now I left the gnomon down there.
165:33:50 Schmitt: Okay. I’ll have to go get it. (Pause) I think we’ll set up right here near the Rover.

656 c
A frame of a telephoto panoramic sequence taken with the 500mm lens.
The boulder “came from a point about 1.5 km up the slope of the North Massif at an elevation of about 430 m above the valley floor” (Constantine, p. 137).

By tracing the boulder track upslope from station 6, Schmitt thought this might be the source area.
It was difficult for him to stand on the slope while shooting towards the top of the North Massif, resulting in this partially fogged photograph.

165:45:27 Schmitt: Okay. I got a set of what looks like the outcrop from which the boulder came.
165:46:10 Schmitt: I’m afraid they’re moved a little bit.

656 d
165:46:26 Schmitt: No, I can’t; that’s it. I got a few pictures looking up the boulder track and then off to the left a little bit; and one off to the right. And I think...I’m not sure how well they overlap; that’s just an awful hard shot.

656 e
Schmitt holds the 500mm lens Hasselblad in his hand. He is leaning on the boulder for stability in order to take telephotographs. The Lunar Rover is in the foreground.

165:43:48 Schmitt: How am I going to see up there to shoot this thing?
165:43:52 Cernan: Well, why don’t you lean against the rock? Go over there and lean against it.