269 a
Eugene Cernan or Thomas Stafford

Moonscapes seen from the LM approaching the future Apollo 11 landing site at very low altitude

Apollo 10, May 18-26, 1969, orbit 13

Three unreleased photographs (top to bottom), vintage gelatin silver prints on fiber-based paper, each 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), numbered “NASA AS10-29- 4246, AS10-29-4295, AS10-29-4298” (NASA MSC) in black in top margin

269 b
Eugene Cernan or Thomas Stafford

Moonscapes seen during the LM’s closest approach to the future Apollo 11 landing site

Apollo 10, May 18-26, 1969, orbit 13

Two unreleased photographs, vintage gelatin silver prints on fiber-based paper, each 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), numbered “NASA AS10-29-4313, AS10- 29-4320” (NASA MSC) in black in top margin
20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in)

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Lot Essay

269 a
These photographs were taken with the 80mm lens looking forward (west) toward the lunar horizon from the spacecraft flying from the northeastern Sea of Fertility (first photograph, latitude / longitude: 0° N / 57° E) to the southern Sea of Tranquillity (second and third photographs; 0.5° N / 30.7° E and 0.4° N / 28° E). Recognizable landmarks near the Apollo 11 landing site such as Boot Hill, Duke Island (second photograph) or Sidewinder Rille are visible (third photograph).

From the mission transcript during the LM’s descent approach over the lunar nearside:

100:38:31 Young (Charlie Brown): Boy! Are they down there among them!
100:38:34 Duke (Mission Control): Roger. Bet it looks like they’re really hauling the mail.
100:38:39 Cernan (Snoopy): Yes. We’re doing it.
Surprisingly enough, Charlie, it really doesn’t look like we’re moving too fast down here. It’s a very nice pleasant pace. [...]
100:44:57 Cernan (Snoopy): Hey, I tell you, we are low! We are close, babe! This is, like, it! And it really looks pretty smooth down there, surprisingly enough. [...]
100:45:05 Cernan (Snoopy): OK. I’ve got Maskelyne out here off my right side. We are coming up on Boot Hill which is very easy to distinguish, and Maskelyne. And I see the craters that are going to lead us right into the - right into the landing site. [...]
100:45:17 Cernan (Snoopy): We’ve got Duke Island on the left, just past Boot Hill and we are coming up - I’ve got Wash Basin just off my right arm - very easily distinguishable.
100:45:33 Cernan (Snoopy): Tom, ought to have Sidewinder Rille coming up on the left - Tom, give me that (the Hasselblad)...

269 b
The LM came to within 15.6 km of the lunar surface; and these photographs taken with the 80mm lens show many details in the southwestern Sea of Tranquillity, confirming that the area was suitable for the Moon landing. The crater at the top left of the first photograph is the 6.5-km Moltke, located just before the Apollo 11 landing site (about 50 km to the northwest) which the crew couldn’t photograph because of a definitive failure of the Hasselblad camera. Directly behind Moltke and running linearly across the area is a trough, Rille Hypathia II (nicknamed U.S. 1 by the astronauts); behind the rille, the highlands regions mark the southwestern edge of the Sea of Tranquillity. This area is mottled and rough compared to the mare seen in the foreground and in the second photograph.

From the mission transcript during the LM’s closest approach over the sea of Tranquillity:

100:46:49 Stafford (Snoopy): Here we are coming up on the site [garble] Moltke on the left. [...]
100:46:57 Stafford (Snoopy): ...there’s plenty of holes there, but there are a few smooth places.
100:47:09 Cernan (Snoopy): There’s Sabine. OK. We just went over crater number 12, we’ve got the landing site, Tom’s got Moltke right out his left - right. Take a picture of that, babe.
100:47:34 Stafford (Snoopy): OK.
100:47:35 Cernan (Snoopy): ... almost like you could reach out and touch Moltke, and we’re going just right over the landing site right this moment, and it’s - a lot of - a lot of rounded-off craters, a few fresh ones, but basically, it looks pretty smooth, like a gummy grayish sand.
100:47:51 Stafford (Snoopy): OK. My camera failed, I took so many pictures. There’s still lots of small craters down there, but I’d say you have about 30 percent of the area that looks free. About 30 percent. So if you’ve got Hover time, you can probably make it.