678 a
Harrison Schmitt

The American flag standing on the Moon after man’s last moonwalk

Apollo 17, December 7-19, 1972, post EVA 3, 172:37:07 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 the verso, numbered “NASA AS17-145-22217” (NASA MSC) in red in top margin, three filing holes in top margin

678 b
Harrison Schmitt

Portrait of the last man on the Moon Eugene Cernan

Apollo 17, December 7-19, 1972, post EVA 3, 172:37:07 GET

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 AS17-145-22224” (NASA MSC) in red in top margin
20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in)

678 b
Jacobs, p.116; Reynolds, p.209.

678 a
Zürich, Kunsthaus, Salzburg, Museum der Moderne, Fly me to the Moon, March-June 2019 and July-November 2019; exhibition catalogue, p. 209, no. 63, illustrated.

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Lot Essay

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Schmitt took the photograph from the window of the LM, its RCS (Reaction Control System)
thrusters in the foreground.
The North Massif is in the background.

“As we complete our third and final day on the surface of the Moon, Challenger’s miniature picture window looks out on a valley transformed, though less than its explorers. An array of thrusters frames the United States flag a dozen yards beyond, the sixth that men have planted on the Moon. This valley of history has seen man complete his first steps into the universe. From this larger home we move to the great future,” reflected Harrison Schmitt (National Geographic, September 1973, p. 305).

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Schmitt took this photograph of a tired but happy Eugene Cernan back in the LM preparing for liftoff.
Cernan is still in his moonwalker spacesuit, full of dust after the exploration of the lunar surface.

“The most common questions that people ask are: What did you feel? What did it look like? Did you think you might not get home? These questions are wrapped up in a mission from beginning to end. You’ve had some experiences you can never forget; they enrich you and change you to some degree,” remembered Eugene Cernan (Schick and Van Haaften, p.69).

172:37:02 Schmitt: Okay; we’re unsuiting, Ken. Let us get unsuited, and then we’ll be back with you.
172:37:07 Mattingly (Mission control): Okay. Just whenever it’s convenient for you.