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Lot 173
[Apollo 8] THE FIRST VIEW OF THE LUNAR FARSIDE TERMINATOR CAPTURED BY HUMANS IN COLOR Frank Borman, 21-27 December 1968
14 – 28 April 2025, 12:00 CEST
Paris, Avenue HocheSold for €281.60 inc. premium
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[Apollo 8] THE FIRST VIEW OF THE LUNAR FARSIDE TERMINATOR CAPTURED BY HUMANS IN COLOR
Frank Borman, 21-27 December 1968
Printed 1968.
Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA image AS8-14-2401].
With "A Kodak Paper" watermark on the reverse (issued by NASA / North American Rockwell, Downey, California). (North American Rockwell was NASA's prime contractor for the Apollo Command and Service Modules).
20.3 x 25.4 cm. (8 x 10 in.)
Historical context
This description by Commander Frank Borman accompanied this photograph published in LIFE magazine: "a science fiction world—awesome, forlorn beauty." (LIFE, January 17, 1969.)
At the farthest distance ever travelled from Earth, orbiting the Moon's far side without communication with Mission Control, and with both his crewmates asleep, Borman experienced an extraordinary sense of solitude. It was during this moment, on the spacecraft's eighth orbit, that he captured this haunting colour photograph of the lunar terminator—a sight never before witnessed by human eyes until Apollo 8.
Below the spacecraft, the Moon was entirely black until the Sun, setting over the far side, began to illuminate the landscape at the terminator—the boundary between lunar day and night.
Taken with the Hasselblad 500EL equipped with a 250mm telephoto lens on colour magazine 14/D, this stunning vertical view captures the floor of the immense 437-km-wide walled plain Crater Korolev, which the astronauts had informally named "America."
Printed 1968.
Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA image AS8-14-2401].
With "A Kodak Paper" watermark on the reverse (issued by NASA / North American Rockwell, Downey, California). (North American Rockwell was NASA's prime contractor for the Apollo Command and Service Modules).
20.3 x 25.4 cm. (8 x 10 in.)
Historical context
This description by Commander Frank Borman accompanied this photograph published in LIFE magazine: "a science fiction world—awesome, forlorn beauty." (LIFE, January 17, 1969.)
At the farthest distance ever travelled from Earth, orbiting the Moon's far side without communication with Mission Control, and with both his crewmates asleep, Borman experienced an extraordinary sense of solitude. It was during this moment, on the spacecraft's eighth orbit, that he captured this haunting colour photograph of the lunar terminator—a sight never before witnessed by human eyes until Apollo 8.
Below the spacecraft, the Moon was entirely black until the Sun, setting over the far side, began to illuminate the landscape at the terminator—the boundary between lunar day and night.
Taken with the Hasselblad 500EL equipped with a 250mm telephoto lens on colour magazine 14/D, this stunning vertical view captures the floor of the immense 437-km-wide walled plain Crater Korolev, which the astronauts had informally named "America."
Footnotes
The deep shadows cast near the terminator dramatically enhance the relief, making the Moon's surface appear stark and forbidding—an effect caused by the low-angle sunlight accentuating the rugged terrain (NASA SP-246, p. 20). The area covered by this photograph spans approximately 20 miles on each side.
Coordinates: 3°S, 156.5°W.
From the Mission Transcript (Near the End of Orbit 7, Minutes Before Borman Took the Photograph):
083:03:35 Borman: Don't worry about the exposure business [of the Hasselblad camera], Goddamn it, Anders; get to bed! Right now! Come on!
083:05:05 Borman: I don't want [garble] All right. You want me to take some pictures? Get some sleep now. You've only got a couple hours, Bill, before we're going to have to be fresh again.
083:05:20 Borman: Yes. Okay. I'll take care of it all. All right. I just got up, remember? I slept for 4 hours.
Literature
LIFE, 17 January 1969, pp. 26-27
Watch more
CLICK HERE: Apollo 8 - 16-mm magazine Q
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