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Lot 102
[Surveyor I] SHADOW SELF PORTRAIT OF THE FIRST AMERICAN MOON LANDER NASA, 13 June 1966
14 – 28 April 2025, 12:00 CEST
Paris, Avenue HocheSold for €768 inc. premium
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[Surveyor I] SHADOW SELF PORTRAIT OF THE FIRST AMERICAN MOON LANDER
NASA, 13 June 1966
Printed 1965.
Vintage gelatin silver print on fibre-based paper [NASA image S-66-39679].
Numbered "NASA S-66-39679" in black in the top margin, with NASA caption numbered "S-66-39679" on the reverse (issued by NASA Manned Spacecraft Centre, Houston, Texas).
20.3 x 25.4 cm. (8 x 10 in.)
Historical context
On June 2, 1966, Surveyor I captured this historic photograph, immortalizing its own presence on the lunar surface as the long lunar day neared its end. With the evening Sun casting its shadow, it became a symbol of humanity's first steps in robotic lunar exploration.
Just a few months earlier, in February 1966, the Soviet Luna 9 became the first probe to soft-land on the Moon, transmitting crude images. Surveyor I followed, landing in the Ocean of Storms near Crater Flamsteed, delivering higher-resolution images that provided an unprecedented view of the Moon's surface. This pioneering achievement laid the groundwork for future Apollo landings.
"Surveyor I stands physically on the Moon, an enduring monument to its creators, a solitary artifact of men who live on another body of the solar system, a quarter of a million miles away, but its true resting place is in the pages of history, where even now is being inscribed man's conquest of space."
Homer Newell, Associate Administrator, NASA (Cortright, p. 62)
Printed 1965.
Vintage gelatin silver print on fibre-based paper [NASA image S-66-39679].
Numbered "NASA S-66-39679" in black in the top margin, with NASA caption numbered "S-66-39679" on the reverse (issued by NASA Manned Spacecraft Centre, Houston, Texas).
20.3 x 25.4 cm. (8 x 10 in.)
Historical context
On June 2, 1966, Surveyor I captured this historic photograph, immortalizing its own presence on the lunar surface as the long lunar day neared its end. With the evening Sun casting its shadow, it became a symbol of humanity's first steps in robotic lunar exploration.
Just a few months earlier, in February 1966, the Soviet Luna 9 became the first probe to soft-land on the Moon, transmitting crude images. Surveyor I followed, landing in the Ocean of Storms near Crater Flamsteed, delivering higher-resolution images that provided an unprecedented view of the Moon's surface. This pioneering achievement laid the groundwork for future Apollo landings.
"Surveyor I stands physically on the Moon, an enduring monument to its creators, a solitary artifact of men who live on another body of the solar system, a quarter of a million miles away, but its true resting place is in the pages of history, where even now is being inscribed man's conquest of space."
Homer Newell, Associate Administrator, NASA (Cortright, p. 62)
Footnotes
This 600-scan-line, wide-angle television image was received at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, on June 13, 1966, at 2:55 p.m. EDT, less than 24 hours before lunar sunset.
"Alone on a desolate plain of the Moon's Sea of Storms, Surveyor I stands quietly, its job well done," added NASA Associate Administrator Homer Newell. "Surveyor casts a lengthening shadow as the long lunar day nears its end. Surface temperatures, which at lunar noon had risen to 235°F, are now falling slowly—a mere hint of the approaching plunge to 250° below zero after sunset."
(Cortright, p. 62)
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