Skip to main content

This auction has ended. View lot details

You may also be interested in

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

[Apollo 8] HUMANITY'S FIRST ORBIT OF THE MOON: stunning view of Goclenius Crater William Anders [Apollo 8], 21-27 December 1968 image 1
[Apollo 8] HUMANITY'S FIRST ORBIT OF THE MOON: stunning view of Goclenius Crater William Anders [Apollo 8], 21-27 December 1968 image 2
[Apollo 8] HUMANITY'S FIRST ORBIT OF THE MOON: stunning view of Goclenius Crater William Anders [Apollo 8], 21-27 December 1968 image 3
[Apollo 8] HUMANITY'S FIRST ORBIT OF THE MOON: stunning view of Goclenius Crater William Anders [Apollo 8], 21-27 December 1968 image 4
Lot 16

[Apollo 8] HUMANITY'S FIRST ORBIT OF THE MOON: stunning view of Goclenius Crater
William Anders [Apollo 8], 21-27 December 1968

14 – 28 April 2025, 12:00 CEST
Paris, Avenue Hoche

Sold for €704 inc. premium

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our Post-War and Contemporary Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

[Apollo 8] HUMANITY'S FIRST ORBIT OF THE MOON: stunning view of Goclenius Crater

William Anders [Apollo 8], 21-27 December 1968

Printed 1968.

Vintage gelatin silver print on fibre-based paper [NASA image AS8-13-2225].
Numbered "AS8-13-2225" in black in the lower margin, with NASA caption on the reverse (issued by NASA Space Science Data Centre, NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre, Greenbelt, Maryland).

20.3 x 25.4 cm. (8 x 10 in.)

Historical context
A striking frame from the first photographic sequence captured by William Anders during Apollo 8's historic first orbit around the Moon, as the crew encountered the eerie, otherworldly lunar landscape. Taken with the 250mm telephoto lens and B&W magazine 13/E, this oblique view looks southeast into the Sea of Fertility, revealing remarkable lunar features in unprecedented detail.
The 70-km-wide Crater Goclenius (latitude/longitude: 10.0°S, 45.0°E) lies on the southern edge of the Sea of Fertility, its floor etched with numerous rilles. One prominent rille extends across the entire crater floor, over the central peak, and across the rim into the smooth mare. In the background, the two large craters with smooth floors are Colombo A (41 km, left) and Magelhaens, while Magelhaens A, with its irregular floor, spans approximately 35 km (20 statute miles) in diameter.

Footnotes

From the mission transcript when the photograph was taken:

069:56:33 Anders: Now we're coming upon the craters Colombo and Gutenberg. Very good detail visible. We can see the long parallel faults or grabens. [Pause.] And they run through the mare material right into the highland material.

Literature
National Geographic, May 1969, pp. 620-621
LIFE, 10 January 1969, p. 22
The View from Space: American Astronaut Photography, 1962–1972, Schick and Van Haaften, p. 99

Additional information

Bid now on these items