One Giant Leap for Mankind: Vintage Photographs from the Victor Martin-Malburet Collection 
28 October 2022
, Harrison Schmitt at Tracy's Rock, station 6, Eugene Cernan [Apollo 17], 7-19 December 1972, EVA 3 - Image 1 of 4
, Harrison Schmitt at Tracy's Rock, station 6, Eugene Cernan [Apollo 17], 7-19 December 1972, EVA 3 - Image 2 of 4
, Harrison Schmitt at Tracy's Rock, station 6, Eugene Cernan [Apollo 17], 7-19 December 1972, EVA 3 - Image 3 of 4
, Harrison Schmitt at Tracy's Rock, station 6, Eugene Cernan [Apollo 17], 7-19 December 1972, EVA 3 - Image 4 of 4
One Giant Leap for Mankind: Vintage Photographs from the Victor Martin-Malburet Collection 
, Harrison Schmitt at Tracy's Rock, station 6, Eugene Cernan [Apollo 17], 7-19 December 1972, EVA 3 - Image 1 of 4
, Harrison Schmitt at Tracy's Rock, station 6, Eugene Cernan [Apollo 17], 7-19 December 1972, EVA 3 - Image 2 of 4
, Harrison Schmitt at Tracy's Rock, station 6, Eugene Cernan [Apollo 17], 7-19 December 1972, EVA 3 - Image 3 of 4
, Harrison Schmitt at Tracy's Rock, station 6, Eugene Cernan [Apollo 17], 7-19 December 1972, EVA 3 - Image 4 of 4
410

Harrison Schmitt at Tracy's Rock, station 6, Eugene Cernan [Apollo 17], 7-19 December 1972, EVA 3

printed 1972
vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based Kodak paper 8 h × 10 w in (20 × 25 cm)
estimate: $2,000–3,000
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The large split boulder located at this station was named the station 6 boulder or Split Rock or Tracy’s Rock, in honor of Eugene Cernan’s daughter, who was nine years old at the time of the mission.
Numbered to upper margin 'NASA AS17-140-21496' with 'A Kodak Paper' watermarks to verso. Signed and inscribed by Harrison Schmitt to NASA chief of photography Richard "Dick" Underwood 'To Dick Underwood _ Many thanks and best wishes for the future! _ Jack Schmitt _ Apollo 17'.

note: Media visuals referencing the original NASA photograph(s) not included.
literature: Time, 8 January 1973, pg. 38 National Geographic, December 1973, ppg. 298-299 Space: A History of Space Exploration in Photographs, Chaikin, pg. 133 A Man on the Moon, Chaikin, ppg. 272-273 Apollo: The Epic Journey to the Moon, Reynolds, ppg. 208-209

print
National Geographic, December 1973, ppg. 298-299


This superb frame of the panoramic sequence was taken by Eugene Cernan upslope from Tracy’s Rock at station 6, located on the south slope of the North Massif 50 m above the floor of the Valley of Taurus-Littrow.

The large split boulder located at this station was named the station 6 boulder or Split Rock or Tracy’s Rock, in honor of Eugene Cernan’s daughter, who was nine years old at the time of the mission.

TIME, 8 January 1973, pg. 38

The East Massif (left) and Bear Mountain (right) form the skyline in the background. Schmitt carries the gnomon after sampling and collecting fragments of Split Rock, which had rolled down the side of the steep North Massif in a 1,500-foot long furrow before breaking into pieces. The boulder was so big that the astronauts could see it from lunar orbit. At the far right of the photograph, just above the rock, the astronauts’ LM Challenger can be seen as a distant speck sitting at the right edge of the lighter area. (Reynolds, pg. 208)

“A panorama of lunar history is captured in this view looking south over the Valley of Taurus-Littrow. A huge fragmented boulder had rolled almost a mile down the side of the North Massif to here, Station 6 on our traverse. Our LM and its light area of surface alteration can be seen on the photo about an inch to the right of the top point of the boulder. That’s me at the left. Note the marks of my sampling scoop on the debris resting on a slanting surface of the boulder at left.”

— Harrison Schmitt (NASA SP-350, ppg. 284-285)

From the mission transcript (photograph taken at T+165:34:53 after launch):

165:33:38 Cernan:

I just got to get a place I can get a pan from. Right here. Right in this little hole. (Pause) (Gesturing) Okay, now I left the gnomon down there.

165:33:50 Schmitt:

Okay. I’ll have to go get it. (Pause) I think we’ll set up right here near the Rover. [...]

165:34:53 Cernan:

Oh, and there’s Challenger! Holy Smoley! You know, Jack, when we finish with Station 8, we will have covered this whole valley from corner to corner!

165:35:18 Schmitt:

That was the idea.

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