Name: The historic first photographs of the Earth from the Moon, medium and high resolution frames, August 23, 1966
Brand: Lunar Orbiter I
Price: 2000.00 GBP
Availability: SoldOut

Taken by a Kodak camera aboard the Lunar Orbiter I spacecraft

The first view of the Earth from the Moon, medium and high resolution frames

Lunar Orbiter I, August 23, 1966

Two vintage gelatin silver prints on fiber-based paper, each 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), the first with NASA HQ caption numbered “66- H-1289” on the verso, the second with NASA HQ caption numbered “67- H-218” and dated “Filed March 2, 1967” on the verso
20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in)

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

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Lot Essay

Two extremely important photographs of space exploration showing for the first time our planet from the vantage point of another world.

The medium resolution photograph (full view of Lunar Orbiter frame 1-102M) was photographed with the 80mm lens from an altitude of 1198 km above a backside area located behind the eastern limb of the Moon.

The high resolution photograph (full view of Lunar Orbiter frames I-102H2 and H3) was photographed with the 610mm lens from an altitude of 1198 km above the Moon over the 233-km Crater Pasteur (center) and the 173-km Crater Hilbert at the left. The 87-km Crater Meitner (unnamed at the time of the mission) is in the center foreground. The view is centered on a point of latitude: 14.68° S, longitude 104.34° E.

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.

[NASA caption] Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va. The world’s first view of the Earth taken by a spacecraft from the vicinity of the Moon. The photo was transmitted to Earth by the United states Lunar Orbiter I and received at the NASA tracking station at Robledo De Chavela near Madrid, Spain. This crescent of Earth was photographed August 23, 1966 at 16:35 GMT when the spacecraft was on its 16th orbit and just about to pass behind the Moon. This is a view the astronauts will have when they come around the backside of the Moon and face the Earth. The Earth is shown on the left of the photo with the U.S. east coast in the upper left, southern Europe toward the dark or night side of Earth, and Antarctica at the bottom of Earth crescent. The surface of the Moon is shown on the right side of the photo. Re-enhanced photograph - October 24, 1966.