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Lot 130
[Gemini XII] THE FIRST HUMAN VIEW OF A SOLAR ECLIPSE FROM OUTER SPACE Buzz Aldrin or James Lovell, 11-15 November 1966
14 – 28 April 2025, 12:00 CEST
Paris, Avenue HocheSold for €460.80 inc. premium
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[Gemini XII] THE FIRST HUMAN VIEW OF A SOLAR ECLIPSE FROM OUTER SPACE
Buzz Aldrin or James Lovell, 11-15 November 1966
Printed 1966.
Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA image S-66-63414].
Numbered "NASA image S-66-63414" in red in the top margin, with NASA caption and "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 Gemini XII photograph captures a rare view of a partial solar eclipse from space. The crescent-shaped Sun, partially obscured by the Moon, is seen against the vast blackness of space—an image that would have been impossible to witness from Earth's surface at the same moment. This image was not originally part of the mission plan and highlights how human spaceflight allows for spontaneous discoveries and provides rare perspectives on cosmic events that are impossible to witness from Earth.
Printed 1966.
Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA image S-66-63414].
Numbered "NASA image S-66-63414" in red in the top margin, with NASA caption and "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 Gemini XII photograph captures a rare view of a partial solar eclipse from space. The crescent-shaped Sun, partially obscured by the Moon, is seen against the vast blackness of space—an image that would have been impossible to witness from Earth's surface at the same moment. This image was not originally part of the mission plan and highlights how human spaceflight allows for spontaneous discoveries and provides rare perspectives on cosmic events that are impossible to witness from Earth.
Footnotes
Due to an anomaly in the Agena Target Vehicle's primary propulsion system, the planned high-altitude maneuver was abandoned. Instead, two phasing manoeuvres using the Agena's secondary propulsion system positioned Gemini XII to align with the eclipse on November 12, 1966, as it passed over South America at approximately 9:20 a.m. EST. This allowed astronauts Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin to capture the remarkable celestial event with a 16 mm camera through the spacecraft windows.
From the mission transcript when the photograph was taken:
016:06:26 Capcom (Mission Control): Roger. How'd the eclipse photography go?
016:06:29 Lovell: Well, we hit the eclipse right on the money.
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