One Giant Leap for Mankind: Vintage Photographs from the Victor Martin-Malburet Collection 
28 October 2022
One Giant Leap for Mankind: Vintage Photographs from the Victor Martin-Malburet Collection 
402

Harrison Schmitt, the Earth and the US flag, Eugene Cernan [Apollo 17], 7-19 December 1972, EVA 1

printed 1972
vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based Kodak paper 8 h × 10 w in (20 × 25 cm)
estimate: $4,000–6,000
result: $3,750
own a similar item?
free evaluation

Harrison Schmitt stands at Taurus Littrow Base with the reflection of his photographer and the US flag in his gold plated visor. The flag points toward the fragile image of the Earth, visible against the blackness of space and the South Massif is in the background.
Numbered to verso 'AS17-134-20384' with NASA MSC reference number stamp and 'A Kodak Paper' watermarks.

note: Media visuals referencing the original NASA photograph(s) not included.
literature: National Geographic, December 1973, ppg. 330-331 Time, 8 January 1973, pg. 39 Space: A History of Space Exploration in Photographs, Chaikin, ppg. 132-133 The View from Space: American Astronaut Photography, 1962–1972, Schick and Van Haaften, pg. 65 Spacecam: Photographing the Final Frontier from Apollo to Hubble, Hope, pg. 35 Apollo: The Epic Journey to the Moon, Reynolds, ppg. 258-259

print
National Geographic, December 1973, ppg. 330-331


Harrison Schmitt stands at Taurus Littrow Base with the reflection of his photographer and the US flag in his gold plated visor. 

The flag points toward the fragile image of the Earth, visible against the blackness of space. The South Massif is in the background. NASA chief of photography Richard “Dick” Underwood described the photograph as “one of the great photos ever to come out of the space program” (NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History).

Time, 8 January 1973, pg. 39

“I captured the Earth, the Moon, the man, and the country all in one. I’m proud of this picture.”

-Eugene Cernan (Schick and Van Haaften, pg.65)

402