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Lot 169
[Apollo 8] FIRST EARTHRISE: the first-ever photograph taken by humans of Earthrise William Anders [Apollo 8], 21-27 December 1968
14 – 28 April 2025, 12:00 CEST
Paris, Avenue Hoche€12,000 - €18,000
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[Apollo 8] FIRST EARTHRISE: the first-ever photograph taken by humans of Earthrise
William Anders [Apollo 8], 21-27 December 1968
Printed 1968.
Vintage gelatin silver print on fibre-based paper [NASA image AS8-13-2329].
Numbered "AS8-13-2329" in black in the lower margin, with NASA caption numbered "AS8-13-2329" and NASA credit stamp "COMPLIMENTS OF THE NATIONAL SPACE SCIENCE DATA CENTER GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER GREENBELT, MARYLAND 20771" on the reverse (issued by NASA's National Space Science Data Center, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland).
20.3 x 25.4 cm. (8 x 10 in.)
Historical context
The first photograph of the first Earthrise ever witnessed by humans.
This extraordinarily rare image remained uncelebrated for decades, as it was neither released nor recognized by NASA after the mission. Earth's perfect poise above the stark lunar horizon is truly mesmerizing, prompting William Anders to exclaim as he captured the image: "Oh, my God! Look at that picture over there! Here's the Earth coming up. Wow, is that pretty!"
In 2013, NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio at the Goddard Space Flight Center confirmed its significance as humanity's first photograph of Earthrise—the most awe-inspiring view ever witnessed. The Apollo 8 astronauts were caught off guard by the sight as Earth unexpectedly rose above the Moon's barren surface during a spacecraft reorientation. While photographing the Moon's surface during the mission's fourth orbit, Anders, urged by his equally ecstatic crew (see mission transcript), instinctively captured three photographs of the first-ever Earthrise—this being the first, followed by two color shots.
To put its impact into perspective, Anders' subsequent color Earthrise, taken seconds later and published by NASA at the time, became the cover photo of TIME's Great Images of the 20th Century and the central image on the cover of LIFE's 100 Photographs That Changed the World.
Printed 1968.
Vintage gelatin silver print on fibre-based paper [NASA image AS8-13-2329].
Numbered "AS8-13-2329" in black in the lower margin, with NASA caption numbered "AS8-13-2329" and NASA credit stamp "COMPLIMENTS OF THE NATIONAL SPACE SCIENCE DATA CENTER GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER GREENBELT, MARYLAND 20771" on the reverse (issued by NASA's National Space Science Data Center, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland).
20.3 x 25.4 cm. (8 x 10 in.)
Historical context
The first photograph of the first Earthrise ever witnessed by humans.
This extraordinarily rare image remained uncelebrated for decades, as it was neither released nor recognized by NASA after the mission. Earth's perfect poise above the stark lunar horizon is truly mesmerizing, prompting William Anders to exclaim as he captured the image: "Oh, my God! Look at that picture over there! Here's the Earth coming up. Wow, is that pretty!"
In 2013, NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio at the Goddard Space Flight Center confirmed its significance as humanity's first photograph of Earthrise—the most awe-inspiring view ever witnessed. The Apollo 8 astronauts were caught off guard by the sight as Earth unexpectedly rose above the Moon's barren surface during a spacecraft reorientation. While photographing the Moon's surface during the mission's fourth orbit, Anders, urged by his equally ecstatic crew (see mission transcript), instinctively captured three photographs of the first-ever Earthrise—this being the first, followed by two color shots.
To put its impact into perspective, Anders' subsequent color Earthrise, taken seconds later and published by NASA at the time, became the cover photo of TIME's Great Images of the 20th Century and the central image on the cover of LIFE's 100 Photographs That Changed the World.
Footnotes
This photograph was taken with the Hasselblad 500 EL equipped with a 250mm telephoto lens and B&W magazine 13/E, before Anders switched to a color magazine. The view looks west across the 233-km-wide Pasteur Crater, with the 20-km Pasteur G in the central foreground and Earth perfectly positioned above the lunar horizon.
This superb vintage print was issued for scientific examination by NASA's National Space Science Data Center at the Goddard Space Flight Center after the mission. However, the original NASA caption on the verso does not acknowledge its historic significance, simply stating: "Apollo 8 oblique view westward of Earthrise over the horizon. The lunar farside under high-angle (75°) sun illumination shows part of the generally dark and cratered floor of a large old crater (12° S, 106° E) and a few fresh bright-walled craters such as the one in the right foreground."
Read more
CLICK HERE: NASA SVS | Earthrise: The 45th Anniversary
*"There was nothing in the plan for an Earthrise photo. Indeed, we didn't even see an actual Earthrise until, on our third orbit, we changed the spacecraft's orientation to heads up and looking forward. As we came round the back side of the Moon, where I had been taking pictures of craters near our orbital track, I looked up and saw the startlingly beautiful sight of our home planet 'rising' up above the stark and battered lunar horizon. It was the only color against the deep blackness of space. In short, it was beautiful, and clearly delicate."*
—William Anders (Jacobs, p. 33)
From the mission transcript (photograph taken 075:47:44 after launch):
075:47:30 Anders: Oh, my God! Look at that picture over there! Here's the Earth coming up. Wow, is that pretty!
075:47:37 Borman: Hey, don't take that, it's not scheduled. (Chuckle.)
075:47:39 Anders: [Laughter.] You got a color film, Jim?
075:47:46 Anders: Hand me that roll of color quick, will you...
075:47:48 Lovell: Oh man, that's great!
075:47:50 Anders: ...Hurry. Quick.
075:47:54 Borman: Gee.
075:47:55 Lovell: It's down here?
075:47:56 Anders: Just grab me a color. That color exterior.
075:48:00 Lovell: [Garble].
075:48:01 Anders: Hurry up!
075:48:06 Borman: Got one?
075:48:08 Anders: Yeah, I'm looking for one.
075:48:10 Lovell: C 368. [Anders is handed color magazine 14/D; 368 refers to film type, SO-368, an Ektachrome-type transparency film manufactured by Kodak]
075:48:11 Anders: Anything, quick.
075:48:13 Lovell: Here.
075:48:17 Anders: Well, I think we missed it.
075:48:31 Lovell: Hey, I got it right here! [In the hatch window.]
075:48:33 Anders: Let - let me get it out this window. It's a lot clearer.
075:48:37 Lovell: Bill, I got it framed; it's very clear right here.
075:48:42 Borman: Well, take several of them.
075:48:43 Lovell: Take several of them! Here, give it to me.
075:48:44 Anders: Wait a minute, let's get the right setting, here now; just calm down. Calm down, Lovell.
075:48:49 Lovell: Well, I got it ri - Oh, that's a beautiful shot.
075:48:54 Lovell: 250 at f/11.
075:49:07 Anders: Okay.
075:49:08 Lovell: Now vary the - vary the exposure a little bit.
075:49:09 Anders: I did. I took two of them.
075:49:11 Lovell: You sure we got it now?
075:49:12 Anders: Yes, we'll get - we'll - It'll come up again, I think.
Watch more
CLICK HERE: NASA | Earthrise: The 45th Anniversary
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