230 a
Taken by a RCA TV camera aboard the spacecraft

TV picture of the Earth transmitted from deep space during the homeward journey

Apollo 8, December 21-27, 1968, 128:04:22 GET

Vintage gelatin silver print on fiber-based paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with Technicolor Quality Control stamp and NASA KSC caption numbered “68-H-1413” on the verso

230 b
William Anders, Frank Borman, or James Lovell

The Earth from deep space during the homeward journey

Apollo 8, December 21-27, 1968, 128:15:00 GET

Vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based Kodak paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with the “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the verso (NASA / North American Rockwell) [NASA AS8-15-2578]

230 c
William Anders, Frank Borman, or James Lovell

This island Earth

Apollo 8, December 21-27, 1968

Two unreleased photographs, vintage chromogenic prints on fiber-based Kodak paper, each 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the versos, numbered “NASA AS8-14-2520 and AS8-14-2523” (NASA MSC) in red in top margin
20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in)

This lot will be removed to Christie’s Park Royal. Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite. Our removal and storage of the lot is subject to the terms and conditions of storage which can be found at Christies.com/storage and our fees for storage are set out in the table below - these will apply whether the lot remains with Christie’s or is removed elsewhere. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Christie’s Park Royal. All collections from Christie’s Park Royal will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com. If the lot remains at Christie’s it will be available for collection on any working day 9.00 am to 5.00 pm. Lots are not available for collection at weekends.
Please note this lot is the property of a consumer. See H1 of the Conditions of Sale.

Conditions of Sale
FAQs
This lot is offered by Christie Manson & Woods Ltd

Brought to you by

Lot Essay

230 a
Television viewers saw this picture of Earth during the sixth live telecast from the Apollo 8 spacecraft as it continued its journey home. At the time this picture was made, the crew were about 97,000 nautical miles from Earth, and were traveling at a speed of 6,084 feet per second.

128:02:11 Lovell: Well, the Earth looks a little bigger to us today, not much, but it’s somewhat bigger. I’m sitting over in the right hand seat now; Bill has got the TV camera; Frank is helping him out aiming it directly to hit the Earth. I hope we have a good picture. [...]
128:04:22 Anders: As I look down on the Earth here from so far out in space, I think I must have the feeling that the travelers in the old sailing ships used to have: going on a very long voyage away from home, and now we’re headed back, and I have that feeling of being proud of the trip, but still - still happy to be going back home and back to our home port. And that’s - that’s what you’re seeing right here.
128:04:50 Carr (Mission Control): Roger, Bill. We’ll sure be glad to get you back, too.
128:04:59 Borman: This is Frank Borman. We’ve enjoyed the television shows, and we’d like you to stay tuned in, in the future, because there’ll be flights and rendezvous and Earth orbit; and then, of course, there’ll be television from the lunar surface itself in the not too far distant future. So, until then, I guess this is the Apollo 8 crew signing off, and we’ll see you back on that good Earth very soon.

230 b
As the crew were far out in deep space about 97,000 nautical miles away from home, they sent the last TV transmission from the spacecraft and took a series of photographs of the Earth through different lenses, including this superb photograph taken with the 250mm telephoto lens. South America is visible in the center.

“As I looked out there I could not figure out which way was up. [...] It wasn’t my fault that somebody had turned the Earth upside down. Anyway, who’s to say which way is up in space?” queried William Anders (Schick and Van Haaften, p. 95).

230 c
These photographs were taken with the 80mm lens as the spacecraft was about 97,000 nautical miles away out in deep space. South America is well visible in the center of the pictures.

“The biggest philosophy, foundation-shaking impression was seeing the smallness of the Earth. [...] Even the pictures don’t do it justice because they always have this frame around them. But when you put your eyeball to the window of the spacecraft, you can see essentially half of the universe. [...] That’s a lot more black and a lot more universe than ever comes through a framed picture. [...] It’s not how small the Earth was, it’s just how big everything else was. [...] I don’t think we’ve ever really gotten it across to people through the photography about what I call the perspective of it. That you’ve to got to see all the black, all the nothing [...] in order to get totally appreciative of the smallness, aloneness, insignificance of this pretty little ball you’re looking at,” said William Anders (Chaikin, Voices, p. 159).