Lot no. 288
288. [Apollo 12] STRIKING LUNAR SUNRISE OVER THE FRA MAURO HIGHLANDS FROM ORBIT
Pete Conrad or Alan Bean, November 14-24, 1969
Printed 1969.
Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA image AS12-50-7438].
With "A Kodak Paper" watermark on the reverse, numbered "NASA AS12-50-7438" in red in the top margin (issued by NASA Manned Spacecraft Centre, Houston, Texas).
20.3 x 25.4 cm. (8 x 10 in.)
Historical context
Captured near the lunar nearside terminator—the boundary between day and night on the Moon—this awe-inspiring view represents what the crew observed as they crossed the terminator twice per orbit. The future Apollo 14 Fra Mauro landing site, located in the highland region within the shadowed area of this photograph, remained in darkness when this image was taken with the 80mm lens (2.5° S / 14° W).
"If you look down at the Moon, it doesn't look that rugged until you get over near where the terminator is. It's only when it gets in these long shadows, and the shadows start making these jagged lines, that you can see how rugged the Moon is. When you're like, at noon, hell, everything just looks like flat craters."
— Alan Bean (Chaikin, Voices, p.39)
Pictures credits: Contact organization
Photographs and film
About the sale04/28/2025
Catalog
FOR ALL MANKIND THE ARTISTIC LEGACY OF EARLY SPACE EXPLORATION: Victor Martin-Malburet Collection
75008 Paris - France