[Apollo 11] ABSTRACT MOONSCAPES FROM THE SPACECRAFT ON ITS SIXTH ORBIT Michael Collins, Buzz Ald...

[Apollo 11] ABSTRACT MOONSCAPES FROM THE SPACECRAFT ON ITS SIXTH ORBIT Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin or Neil Armstrong, 24 July 1969 Printed 1969. Two vintage gelatin silver prints on fibre-based paper [NASA images AS11-43-6439 and AS11-43-6473]. Numbered 'NASA AS11-43-6439' and 'NASA AS11-43-6473' in black in the top margin (issued by NASA Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas). Each: 20.3 x 25.4 cm. (8 x 10 in.) Historical context The Moon through a new lens: Apollo 11's unseen views from magazine 43/T. These exceptionally rare photographs were taken using the powerful 250mm telephoto lens of the Hasselblad 500 EL, equipped with B&W magazine 43/T, during Apollo 11's sixth orbit around the Moon. As the Command Module Columbia traveled westward in an equatorial plane, transitioning from the farside to the nearside, the astronauts captured these remarkable images. Magazine 43/T was used exclusively in lunar orbit, and most of its images—many unpublished by NASA—were taken as targets of opportunity by the astronauts, who observed the Moon's alien landscape with awe. More than just scientific records, these photographs stand as a testament to the spirit of exploration, revealing landscapes never before seen by human eyes and capturing the stark beauty and enduring mystery of the Moon. Footnotes: First Photograph: chain crater on the floor of Mendeleev Crater, farside (7° N, 139.5° E). One of the rare photographs from magazine 43/T released after the mission, this image captures a striking linear group of small craters within the vast Mendeleev Crater on the Moon's farside. At the time, the original NASA caption described: 'The linear group of small craters is located within the large IAU crater No. IX and is centered at latitude/longitude 139.5° E, 7° N. The absence of shadows is due to the high Sun angle. The crater chain is approximately 34 statute miles in length, and the large crater adjacent to the crater chain is 10.5 statute miles in diameter.' This distinctive feature was later named Catena Mendeleev, situated on the interior floor of the Mendeleev walled plain, known during the Apollo era as Basin IX. The large crater visible in the image is Richards. From the mission transcript when the photograph was taken: 086:17:37 Armstrong: Take along one of those craters. 086:17:57 Armstrong: I took overlapping pictures of all that [garble]. 086:18:03 Aldrin: Tomorrow, take - we're going to have to carry a lot of film to take as many pictures as they want. Second photograph: oblique view of Crater Condorcet F (8.5° N, 73° E). This image provides an oblique view of the 40-km-wide Crater Condorcet F, located in the eastern region of the Moon's nearside, southeast of the Sea of Crises. Unlike the first image, this photograph was not released by NASA following the mission. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing