686 a
Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt or Ron Evans

The near Full Moon during the homeward journey from a perspective not visible from Earth

Apollo 17, December 7-19, 1972

Unreleased photograph, vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based Kodak paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on verso, numbered “NASA AS17-152-23342” (NASA MSC) in red in top margin

686 b
Harrison Schmitt

Full Moon seen during Ronald Evans’ deep space EVA on the way back to Earth

Apollo 17, December 7-19, 1972, 257:25:00 - 258:42:00 GET

Unreleased photograph, vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based Kodak paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on verso, numbered “NASA AS17-152-23360” (NASA MSC) in red in top margin

686 c
Harrison Schmitt

Ronald Evans’ deep space spacewalk, the last EVA of the Apollo program

Apollo 17, December 7-19, 1972, 257:25:00 - 258:42:00 GET

Vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based Kodak paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with NASA MSC caption and “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the verso, numbered “NASA AS17-152-23391” in red in top margin
20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in)

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Lot Essay

686 a
The Moon photographed after transEarth injection with the 80mm lens.
This view of the almost-full lunar disk was taken as Apollo 17 was several thousand miles from the Moon on its way home.
More than a third of the area covered is never visible from the Earth.
Smyth’s Sea, the dark circular area just to the top right of the center, straddles the 90° east meridian. The Crater Tsiolkovsky is near the terminator at the top right.

From the mission transcript as the crew began the journey back to Earth:

240:03:07 Cernan: Gordy, as we’re maneuvering, I guess we got one of the most spectacular views of the Moon I’ve ever seen, from a position like this. It’s like - just short of being 100 percent full. We can still see from Tsiolkovsky all the way across the Moon and it’s just absolutely magnificent and I’m afraid we’re talking here that pictures just won’t capture
the real three dimensional picture we’re looking at.

686 b
As Evans was outside the spacecraft to retrieve film canisters from the Services Module, Schmitt was himself performing a stand up EVA in the open hatch of the Command Module and took this photograph of the Full Moon through the 80mm lens.
The CSM America was approximately 180,000 miles from Earth.

257:45:26 Evans: Hey, I can see the Moon back behind me! Beautiful! The Moon is down there to the right - full Moon - and off to the left, just outside the hatch down here, is a crescent Earth.

686 c
[NASA caption] Ronald Evans is photographed performing extravehicular activity during the Apollo 17 spacecraft’s trans-Earth coast. During his EVA, Evans, Command Module Pilot, retrieved film cassettes from the lunar sounder, mapping camera and panoramic camera. The cylindrical object at Evans’ left side is the mapping camera cassette. The total time for the trans-Earth EVA was one hour, seven minutes, 18 seconds, starting at ground elapsed time of 257:25 (2:28 p.m.) and ending at G.E.T. of 258:42 (3:35 p.m.) on Sunday, Dec. 17, 1972.
Schmitt took the photograph from the open hatch of the Command Module.

“You’re not really a spaceman when you’re in the confines of your spaceship,” said Evans. “You go outside, and you’re hanging on, maneuvering out there from the safety and security of our mother ship. If you ever want to be a spaceman, that’s the way to do it!” (Chaikin, Voices, p. 122).