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Lot 286
[Apollo 12] 'FANTASTIC' VIEW OF CRATER COPERNICUS AT SUNRISE: seen from LM Intrepid about to descend to the lunar surface Pete Conrad or Alan Bean, November 14-24, 1969
14 – 28 April 2025, 12:00 CEST
Paris, Avenue HocheSold for €960 inc. premium
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[Apollo 12] 'FANTASTIC' VIEW OF CRATER COPERNICUS AT SUNRISE: seen from LM Intrepid about to descend to the lunar surface
Pete Conrad or Alan Bean, November 14-24, 1969
Printed 1969.
Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA image AS12-47-6876].
With "A Kodak Paper" watermark on the reverse, numbered "NASA AS12-47-6876" in red in the top margin (issued by NASA Manned Spacecraft Centre, Houston, Texas).
20.3 x 25.4 cm. (8 x 10 in.)
Historical context
One of the most breathtaking photographs ever taken from lunar orbit.
"Boy, oh boy, Houston. Do we have a fantastic view of Copernicus." — Pete Conrad (see mission transcript, 106:32:02)
This dramatic view of Crater Copernicus at lunar sunrise truly astonished Alan Bean and Pete Conrad as they marvelled at the Moon's stark beauty. The high-oblique, wide-angle photograph was taken from the Intrepid Lunar Module with a 60mm lens while it was still docked with Yankee Clipper during orbit 12, prior to the landing.
The stark lunar relief, with its deep shadows and sunlit peaks, is dramatically accentuated by the low Sun elevation near the terminator—an awe-inspiring sight that left the Apollo 12 astronauts in sheer admiration.
Printed 1969.
Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA image AS12-47-6876].
With "A Kodak Paper" watermark on the reverse, numbered "NASA AS12-47-6876" in red in the top margin (issued by NASA Manned Spacecraft Centre, Houston, Texas).
20.3 x 25.4 cm. (8 x 10 in.)
Historical context
One of the most breathtaking photographs ever taken from lunar orbit.
"Boy, oh boy, Houston. Do we have a fantastic view of Copernicus." — Pete Conrad (see mission transcript, 106:32:02)
This dramatic view of Crater Copernicus at lunar sunrise truly astonished Alan Bean and Pete Conrad as they marvelled at the Moon's stark beauty. The high-oblique, wide-angle photograph was taken from the Intrepid Lunar Module with a 60mm lens while it was still docked with Yankee Clipper during orbit 12, prior to the landing.
The stark lunar relief, with its deep shadows and sunlit peaks, is dramatically accentuated by the low Sun elevation near the terminator—an awe-inspiring sight that left the Apollo 12 astronauts in sheer admiration.
Footnotes
The 48-km-wide Crater Reinhold appears in darkness in the foreground, with the smaller 26-km Reinhold B beyond it. Near the horizon, the massive Crater Copernicus dominates the scene, its 93-km-wide rim bathed in the low-angle sunlight of the lunar morning. The keyhole-shaped Crater Fauth is also visible near Copernicus, while the rugged Carpathian Mountain Range stretches across the horizon.
From the mission transcript when the photograph was taken:
106:32:02 Conrad: Boy, oh boy, Houston. Do we have a fantastic view of Copernicus. [...]
106:32:29 Conrad: Hey, Dick. I don't know if you can see it, but if you can, you ought to take a look at Copernicus there. That is really something else. And we owe him a 06, 20, whenever he gets stopped.
106:32:51 Gordon: I'm just looking at Copernicus. Houston, let me know when you got the data.
106:32:58 Conrad: Isn't that something?
106:32:59 Carr (Mission Control): Roger, Clipper.
106:33:00 Bean: Sure is. [...]
106:33:42 Gordon: Pretty nice down here, Pete.
106:33:46 Conrad: I hope so.
106:33:56 Conrad: Boy, I tell you; I can't get over Copernicus. Houston, that - there's nothing on any other part of the Moon that we've seen since we've been here that even looks like that.
Literature
LIFE, November 1969, p. 36-37
Moon: Man's Greatest Adventure, Thomas, ed., p.226
Apollo 12 Preliminary Science Report (NASA SP-235), p.17 (variant)