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Space Exploration
Space Exploration
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[Lunar Orbiter I]
The First Image of the Earth from the Moon, 23 August, 1966
Lot Closed
July 27, 02:17 PM GMT
Estimate
8,000 - 12,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
[Lunar Orbiter I]
Triptych Showing Human's First Image of the Earth from the Moon, August 23, 1966
Three large vintage silver gelatin contact prints of Lunar Orbiter images I-102H1-3, joined together to 54⅜ x 14⅜ inches.
Bowker & Hughes, Lunar Orbiter Photographic Atlas of the Moon; Illustrated in: Cortright, Exploring Space with a Camera, pp 84-85.
THE FIRST IMAGE OF THE EARTH FROM THE MOON, 23 AUGUST 1966
From 1966-75, NASA photographed and mapped 99% of the surface of the moon using five uncrewed spacecraft known as the Lunar Orbiters. Getting the spacecraft to their destinations was a miracle of engineering, but the process of taking the images and relaying them to earth was a technological feat that almost defies belief. The results were absolutely breathtaking, and the images revealed startlingly stark and beautiful landscapes.
Perhaps the most famous of Lunar Orbiter images, this photo shows the crescent Earth from a vantage point of 730 miles above the far side of the Moon. Lunar Orbiter I took this photo after responding to commands sent to it from Earth from a quarter million miles away.