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Lot 174
[Apollo 8] THE MOON'S FARSIDE FIRST SEEN BY HUMANS: forbidding mountainous horizon Frank Borman, 21-27 December 1968
14 – 28 April 2025, 12:00 CEST
Paris, Avenue HocheSold for €896 inc. premium
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[Apollo 8] THE MOON'S FARSIDE FIRST SEEN BY HUMANS: forbidding mountainous horizon
Frank Borman, 21-27 December 1968
Printed 1968.
Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA image AS8-14-2453].
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 remarkable photograph was captured by Frank Borman during orbit 8, as he experienced a solitary view of the Moon's rugged far side while Lovell and Anders rested—a landscape never before seen by human eyes. Looking west, this oblique image provides a rare glimpse of the mountainous lunar terrain (12.3° S, 113° E). Borman used a Hasselblad 500EL with a 250mm telephoto lens, whose foreshortening effect enhances the perception of the region's dramatic topography.
"The backside is more mountainous than the front side. [...] Someone said it was like papier-mâché. Well, right, it's all shades of grey. There is no colour."
—James Lovell (Chaikin, Voices, p. 41)
Printed 1968.
Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA image AS8-14-2453].
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 remarkable photograph was captured by Frank Borman during orbit 8, as he experienced a solitary view of the Moon's rugged far side while Lovell and Anders rested—a landscape never before seen by human eyes. Looking west, this oblique image provides a rare glimpse of the mountainous lunar terrain (12.3° S, 113° E). Borman used a Hasselblad 500EL with a 250mm telephoto lens, whose foreshortening effect enhances the perception of the region's dramatic topography.
"The backside is more mountainous than the front side. [...] Someone said it was like papier-mâché. Well, right, it's all shades of grey. There is no colour."
—James Lovell (Chaikin, Voices, p. 41)
Footnotes
[Original NASA caption] After inserting into lunar orbit, the Apollo 8 astronauts looked down on rugged terrain never before seen by man. This scene is typical of far side terrain illuminated by a Sun nearly directly overhead. A surface consisting of craters superimposed on older craters extends about 570 kilometres (350 statute miles) to the horizon. Width of view at the horizon is 150 kilometres (94 statute miles).
Literature
Moon: Man's Greatest Adventure, Thomas, ed., p. 159
Additional information
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