[Apollo 8] PLANET EARTH AT MID-DISTANCE DURING HUMANITY'S FIRST RETURN JOURNEY FROM ANOTHER WORL...

[Apollo 8] PLANET EARTH AT MID-DISTANCE DURING HUMANITY'S FIRST RETURN JOURNEY FROM ANOTHER WORLD William Anders, Frank Borman, or James Lovell, December 21-27, 1968 Printed 1968. Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA AS8-15-2575]. Numbered 'NASA AS8-15-2575' in red in the top margin, with 'A Kodak Paper' watermark on the reverse (issued by NASA Manned Spacecraft Centre, Houston, Texas). 20.3 x 25.4 cm. (8 x 10 in.) Historical context This extraordinary photograph of our home planet, floating in the vastness of space midway between Earth and the Moon during humanity's first return journey from another world, underscores its beauty—the kind of image that forever changed humanity's perception of its place in the universe. Returning to that bright blue Earth from the Moon meant traversing 205,000 nautical miles of space. 'The Earth [...] captured my attention. It was the only object in the universe that we could see that had colour. It was beautiful, blue with white clouds, serene and majestic. It was home.' —Frank Borman (Jacobs, p. 34) 'Photography brought home the real meaning of our space activity, a grasp of what we can accomplish, and a view of the Earth as it really is: a small planet in a common type of planetary system around a rather normal, nondescript star.' —James Lovell (Schick and Van Haaften, p. 54) For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing