436 a
Richard Gordon, Pete Conrad, or Alan Bean

The Moon during transEarth coast, seen from a perspective not visible from Earth

Apollo 12, November 14-24, 1969

Unreleased photograph, vintage gelatin silver print on fiber-based paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), numbered “NASA AS12-55-8268” (NASA MSC) in black in top margin

436 b
Richard Gordon, Pete Conrad, or Alan Bean

Very thin crescent of Earth, homebound

Apollo 12, November 14-24, 1969

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 AS12-51-7581” (NASA MSC) in red in top margin
20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in)

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Lot Essay

436 a
This photograph was taken with the 80mm lens after trans-Earth injection on the way back to Earth.
Parts of the sunlit face of the Moon are not visible from Earth.

From the mission transcript as the crew began the homeward journey after Trans-Earth injection:

173:26:21 Bean: This Moon is just this white ball right out in the middle of a big black void, and it doesn’t seem like either - We’re separating from one another, but there just doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason why we are or why it’s setting out there. All the time we were in lunar orbit we were discussing this thing - how unreal it looked, and it is amazing to us to fly around it as it is when you just think about going to the Moon. It is very, very unreal to be there.
173:26:57 Lind (Mission Control): You know, your pictures (from a past TV transmission) were absolutely fantastic showing how fast you moved away from the Moon. You really gave us a good picture of that.
173:27:08 Bean: We’re still doing it. - It’s really getting small in a hurry. It’s just sort of unreal to look outside. -It is almost like a photograph moving away from you. It doesn’t seem possible it can be a whole sphere that you were orbiting a couple of hours ago.

436 b
The crew took this photograph with the 80mm lens as they were still more than 30,000 nautical miles away from home.

“Our landing was very westerly on the Moon, which means the Earth was getting smaller. On our way back we saw a lot of crescent Earths. No matter how hard you looked you could not see in that dark part, even if you put glasses up to your eyes. It was a funny feeling; you knew the Earth was there, but you never could see anything but the crescent,”
remembered Alan Bean (Schick and Van Haaften, p.104).

From the mission transcript as the crew woke up on the final day before landing:
208:04:50 Conrad: We - Houston, we just got our first glimpse of you this morning, and there’s not very much of you out there.