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Lot 271
[Apollo 11] LUNAR HORIZON ABOVE TRANQUILITY SCIENTIFIC SITE: captured from LM Eagle's window after humanity's first exploration of another world Neil Armstrong, 16-24 July 1969
14 – 28 April 2025, 12:00 CEST
Paris, Avenue HocheSold for €281.60 inc. premium
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[Apollo 11] LUNAR HORIZON ABOVE TRANQUILITY SCIENTIFIC SITE: captured from LM Eagle's window after humanity's first exploration of another world
Neil Armstrong, 16-24 July 1969
Printed 1969.
Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA image AS11-37-5499].
Numbered "NASA AS11-37-5499" in red in the top margin, with "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This rare unpublished photograph captures the lunar horizon from the LM window after humankind's first exploration of the surface. In the foreground, part of the Eagle's structure is visible, including a defocused thruster, reinforcing the perspective from inside the spacecraft. It is a view no human had ever seen before—a scientific outpost on another celestial body, left behind as a footprint of human exploration in the vast, untouched lunar landscape unfolding beyond.
This image highlights a moment of transition—taken after Armstrong and Aldrin had completed their EVA and returned to the safety of Eagle, preparing for liftoff.
"The horizon looks close. But, because it's hilly you're probably not seeing all the horizon you could see. An intermediate hill is probably cutting it out. It wasn't mountainous in our area; it was flat. But there were still crater rims and so on that probably affected how far out the observable horizon was."
Neil Armstrong (from the ALSJ mission transcript at 112:20:56 GET)
Printed 1969.
Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA image AS11-37-5499].
Numbered "NASA AS11-37-5499" in red in the top margin, with "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This rare unpublished photograph captures the lunar horizon from the LM window after humankind's first exploration of the surface. In the foreground, part of the Eagle's structure is visible, including a defocused thruster, reinforcing the perspective from inside the spacecraft. It is a view no human had ever seen before—a scientific outpost on another celestial body, left behind as a footprint of human exploration in the vast, untouched lunar landscape unfolding beyond.
This image highlights a moment of transition—taken after Armstrong and Aldrin had completed their EVA and returned to the safety of Eagle, preparing for liftoff.
"The horizon looks close. But, because it's hilly you're probably not seeing all the horizon you could see. An intermediate hill is probably cutting it out. It wasn't mountainous in our area; it was flat. But there were still crater rims and so on that probably affected how far out the observable horizon was."
Neil Armstrong (from the ALSJ mission transcript at 112:20:56 GET)
Footnotes
Beyond the thruster, in the stark, airless landscape, the Early Apollo Scientific Experiments Package (EASEP), located 15m south of the LM, stands as a testament to humankind's commitment to scientific discovery. The deployed Laser Ranging Retroreflector (LRRR), designed to measure the precise Earth-Moon distance, and the Passive Seismic Experiment (PSE), aimed at detecting moonquakes and meteorite impacts, are visible on the surface. Astronauts' footprints leading to the scientific site are very distinct.