611 a
Ken Mattingly

The ascent stage of the LM rising from the Moon’s surface

Apollo 16, April 16-27, 1972, orbit 53

Vintage chromogenic print on resin coated Kodak paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with NASA KSC caption numbered “AS16-122-19530” and “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the verso

611 b
Ken Mattingly

The ascent stage of the LM Orion station-keeping with the CSM over the Sea of Fertility

Apollo 16, April 16-27, 1972, orbit 53

Vintage chromogenic print on resin coated Kodak Paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with NASA KSC caption numbered “AS16-122-19533” and “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the verso

611 c
Ken Mattingly

The ascent stage of the LM Orion yawing over the Moon before docking

Apollo 16, April 16-27, 1972, orbit 53

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 AS16-122-19536” (NASA MSC) in red in top margin, with three filing holes in top margin
20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in)

611 b
Light, p.104 (variant).

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Lot Essay

611 a
Mattingly took this great photograph looking west with the 80mm lens 110 km above rugged highland terrain east of the Foaming Sea, including the 50-km and 34-km Craters Maclaurin and Maclaurin K (right) in the center background. Latitude / longitude: 0.2° N 69.8° E.

“That machine (the LM) just flies so nice. It’s just unbelievable! But once you get to ascent stage, it’s really light and responsive. Boy, you fire one of those thrusters and it does exactly what you want it to,” commented later John Young (from the mission transcript at 203:12:21 GET after trans Earth injection).

611 b
Taken from the CSM Casper looking west with the 80mm lens from an altitude of 110 km, this
photograph shows Orion with a contrasting background of darkness and the Moon’s Sea of Fertility. Latitude / longitude: 0° N 47.0° E.

From the mission transcript during the rendezvous:

177:11:46 Mattingly (Casper): It is looking more like an animated cartoon as we go along.
177:11:50 Young (Orion): Isn’t it something?
177:11:53 Duke (Orion): Okay, I’ll go to dock.
177:12:05 Mattingly (Casper): Okay, I’m ready to go to attitude whenever you are.
177:12:09 Young (Orion): Okay, wait until I get this thing where I want it, Char - Ken.
177:12:09 Irwin (Mission Control): Orion, this is Houston. When you’re station-keeping, let me know. We have some words for you.
177:12:18 Young (Orion): Okay, we’re station-keeping.
177:12:20 Irwin: Okay. John, looking at the pictures of the liftoff, it appeared that something might have come loose - skin on the - the back of the vehicle so, for that reason, we want Ken to take some pictures of the LM, so we have a slight modification to the Flight Plan. We’ll be asking you to do a yaw 360 after Ken does his Verb 49 maneuver to the docking attitude.

611 c
This photograph was taken looking west with the Hasselblad camera equipped with the 80mm
lens 110 km over the Sea of Fertility with the 11-km Craters Messier and Messier A in the right
background.

Orion is yawing for inspection by the CSM before docking. Parts of the LM thermal panels visibly buckled from the stresses of lift-off from the Moon but the damage posed no risk to Young and Duke in their link-up with Casper. Latitude / longitude: 0° N 47.0° E.

From the mission transcript during the rendezvous:

177:13:57 Mattingly: Okay. We’re in perfect position to take pictures of the LM right now. All they’ve got to do is to pitch. He prefers to go to the other sequence, is that correct?
177:14:08 Hartsfield (Mission Control): Okay. If you’re in a position to take pictures of the LM we
wanted the LM to do a 360-degree yaw, and you’re to take pictures of the - the minus-Z portion of the ascent stage, using the same camera setting that you have on the DAC (16mm camera) and the (Hasselblad) EL, except the focus on the EL should be changed to infinity. Over.