685 a
Ronald Evans

Last human-taken photograph of the Earth from the Moon: Crescent Earth setting over the dark side of the Moon

Apollo 17, December 7-19, 1972, orbit 71, 228:19:59 GET

Vintage chromogenic print on resin coated Kodak Paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with NASA Goddard caption and “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the verso [NASA AS17-152-23279]

685 b
Ronald Evans

One of the last photographs taken by man in lunar orbit

Apollo 17, December 7-19, 1972, orbit 74, 233:57:59 GET

Unreleased photograph, vintage gelatin silver print on fiber-based paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), numbered “NASA AS17-155-23772” (NASA MSC) in black in top margin

685 c
Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt or Ron Evans

The Moon after tranEearth injection

Apollo 17, December 7-19, 1972

Unreleased photograph, vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based Kodak paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x10in), with “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the verso, numbered “NASA AS17-152-23339” (NASA MSC) in red in top margin
20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in)

685 b
Zürich, Kunsthaus, Salzburg, Museum der Moderne, Fly me to the Moon, March-June 2019 and July-November 2019; exhibition catalogue, p. 117, no. 56, illustrated.

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Lot Essay

685 a
As the Apollo 17 crew were about to begin their voyage home, they photographed for the last time the view of the Earth from the Moon that only Apollo made possible.

Evans took this photograph from magazine 152/PP with the 250mm telephoto lens.

“Here, a crescent Earth disappearing below the lunar horizon, with the dark edge of the Moon silhouetted, creates an illusion similar to the horns of a bull” (NASA caption).

“As I orbited the Moon, and the Moon was in turn making its twenty-eight-day orbit around the
Earth, I could watch the Earth change from three quarters to one-half and on down to a crescent,” remembered Ronald Evans (Kelley, plate 49).

“For more than six days Earth has been our friend in the lunar skies. That fragile peace of blue with its ancient rafts of life will continue to be man’s home as he journeys even further in the solar system,” reflected Harrison Schmitt (National Geographic, September 1973, p.306).

228:19:59 Cernan: Beautiful, Bob (Overmeyer at Mission Control). We’re going to get your picture as you set this time.

685 b
This beautiful photograph from magazine 155/RR was taken at the lunar nearside terminator (boundary between day and night on the Moon) during the last orbit before trans-Earth injection with the 250mm telephoto lens from an altitude of 118km and shows lunar lands located east of Crater Aristarchus F on the Aristarchus Plateau (Ocean of Storms). Latitude / longitude: 21.3° N / 44.4° W.

From the mission transcript during orbit 74:

233:38:56 Mission Control: Ron, the numbers on magazine RR show that you have nine spare frames and you will need nine frames there for calibration, so looks like you’ll have nine frames on mag RR for whatever you want to use them on.
233:39:17 Evans: Okay, let’s see now. We have just this next pass coming up here?
233:39:25 Mission Control: That’s affirmative, Ron.
233:39:26 Evans: ... on 85 now. Okay, and Tsiolkovsky, we got those the last time with, on the
LM mag is that correct?
233:40:37 Evans: Hey, Jack, we want to get D-Caldera to high Sun here too. And then, yes, and
then the crater with the dike in it, because I think we probably should get those - Yes, (magazine) Papa Papa, yes. And then as soon as you finished with those, we’ll switch mags and I’ll whip over there and take some terminator photos. Okay, let’s see.

685 c
A beautiful view of the Seas of Crisis and Tranquillity, showing in particular the Apollo 11 landing site (at the right center), taken through the 250mm telephoto lens as the astronauts departed from the Moon.

236:22:59 Public Affairs: This is Apollo Control. . . Apolllo 10 had a shorter trip time of something like 40 hours for the return compared with about 68 hours for the return time on Apollo 17. This would perhaps cause the Moon to shrink a little less rapidly than we recall it from Apollo 10, but nevertheless, should be a very spectacular sight. The previous crews have described it, the Moon is looking as if you were in a high performance jet aircraft going straight
up and the Moon goes from filling the TV screen to shrinking into a discernible sphere in a relatively short period of time, a matter of 10 to 15 minutes as we recall.