624 a
NASA / Unidentified Photographer

The crew of Apollo 17 departing for the Moon

Apollo 17, December 6, 1972

Three vintage gelatin silver prints, each 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with NASA HQ and KSC captions on the versos

624 b
NASA / Unidentified Photographer

The last Saturn V Moon rocket carrying humans to the Moon seen after ignition

Apollo 17, December 7, 1972, 000:00:01 GET

Vintage chromogenic print on resin coated Kodak paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the verso

624 c
NASA / Unidentified Photographer

Vice-President Agnew and NASA officials including NASA Administrator James Fletcher at
Launch Control Center after the successful launch of the Saturn V rocket

Apollo 17, December 7-19, 1972, 000:15:00 GET

Vintage gelatin silver print on fiber-based paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with NASA KSC caption on the verso

624 d
NASA / Unidentified Photographer

Nighttime launch of the last Saturn V rocket carrying humans to the Moon

Apollo 17, December 7-19, 1972, 000:00:05 GET

Vintage chromogenic print on resin coated Kodak paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with NASA HQ caption numbered “72- HC-889” and “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the verso
20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in)

624 b
Chaikin, Space, p. 130; Jacobs, pp. 6-7.

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Lot Essay

624 a
Evans shakes hand with Donald K. Slayton, director of Flight Crew Operations at the Manned
Spacecraft Center; Harrison Schmitt shares a moment of relaxation with the first American in space and Apollo 14 astronaut Alan B. Shepard; and Eugene Cernan says goodbye to closeout to a NASA technician in the white room prior to entering spacecraft for launch.

624 b
“The huge, 363-feet tall Apollo 17 (Spacecraft 114/Lunar Module 12/Saturn 512) space vehicle
is launched from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida, at 12:33 a.m. (EST), Dec. 7, 1972. Apollo 17, the final lunar landing mission in NASA’s Apollo program, was the first nighttime liftoff of the Saturn V launch vehicle. Aboard the Apollo 17 spacecraft were astronauts Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans; and Harrison Schmitt. Flame from the five F-1 engines of the Apollo/Saturn first (S-1C) stage illuminates the nighttime scene. A two-hour and 40-minute hold delayed the Apollo 17 launching” (original NASA caption for S-72-55070).

624 c
At the Vice President’s right is George Low, Deputy NASA Administrator; Dr. James Fletcher,
NASA Administrator, is standing behind the Vice-President; Walter J. Kapryan, center, Director of KSC launch Operations; and Dr. Hans F. Gruene, extreme right, Director of KSC Launch Vehicle Operations.

624 d
“Apollo 20 was taken off the schedule five months after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had ‘won’ the Moon race. Apollo 18 and 19 were cancelled soon afterward, as budget cuts, and changing political priorities, impacted NASA. When Schmitt, Cernan and Evans prepared for a dramatic nighttime launch on December 7, 1972, they knew that it would be a good few years before anyone followed them to the Moon, but they never imagined that another half a century would pass, and still no one would have built upon their achievements” (Bizony, p.169).