Dominique Ciccolella
Sale Coordinator and Expert Liaison
This auction has ended. View lot details
You may also be interested in
![[Apollo 13] EXTRAORDINARY VIEW OF EARTH: captured on the way to the Moon before disaster struck Jack Swigert, Fred Haise, or James Lovell, 11-17 April 1970 image 1](/_next/image.jpg?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg1.bonhams.com%2Fimage%3Fsrc%3DImages%2Flive%2F2025-03%2F24%2F25639331-304-1.jpg&w=2400&q=75)
![[Apollo 13] EXTRAORDINARY VIEW OF EARTH: captured on the way to the Moon before disaster struck Jack Swigert, Fred Haise, or James Lovell, 11-17 April 1970 image 2](/_next/image.jpg?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg1.bonhams.com%2Fimage%3Fsrc%3DImages%2Flive%2F2025-03%2F24%2F25639331-304-2.jpg&w=2400&q=75)
Lot 321
[Apollo 13] EXTRAORDINARY VIEW OF EARTH: captured on the way to the Moon before disaster struck Jack Swigert, Fred Haise, or James Lovell, 11-17 April 1970
14 – 28 April 2025, 12:00 CEST
Paris, Avenue HocheSold for €2,816 inc. premium
Looking for a similar item?
Our Post-War and Contemporary Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialistAsk about this lot
Sabine Cornette de Saint Cyr
Head of Department
Chloe Mayot
Senior Cataloguer
Marion Richard
Specialist
[Apollo 13] EXTRAORDINARY VIEW OF EARTH: captured on the way to the Moon before disaster struck
Jack Swigert, Fred Haise, or James Lovell, 11-17 April 1970
Printed 1970.
Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA image AS13-60-8588].
Numbered "NASA AS13-60-8588" in red in the top margin, with NASA caption and "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
Apollo 13's awe-inspiring view of Earth before the explosion. The original NASA caption incorrectly states that this photograph was taken during Apollo 13's trans-Earth journey home. However, it was actually captured through the 80mm lens during translunar coast, shortly after transposition, docking, and extraction of the Lunar Module (LM)—and the jettison of the expended Saturn S-IVB third stage at approximately T+04:32:00 after launch.
At this stage of the mission, Apollo 13 was still on a nominal flight to the Moon, marvelling at Earth's beauty, unaware of the life-threatening crisis that would soon unfold.
Printed 1970.
Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA image AS13-60-8588].
Numbered "NASA AS13-60-8588" in red in the top margin, with NASA caption and "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
Apollo 13's awe-inspiring view of Earth before the explosion. The original NASA caption incorrectly states that this photograph was taken during Apollo 13's trans-Earth journey home. However, it was actually captured through the 80mm lens during translunar coast, shortly after transposition, docking, and extraction of the Lunar Module (LM)—and the jettison of the expended Saturn S-IVB third stage at approximately T+04:32:00 after launch.
At this stage of the mission, Apollo 13 was still on a nominal flight to the Moon, marvelling at Earth's beauty, unaware of the life-threatening crisis that would soon unfold.
Footnotes
[Original NASA caption for the photograph] This photograph of Earth was taken from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Apollo 13 spacecraft during its trans-Earth journey home. The most visible land mass includes southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. The peninsula of Baja California is clearly seen. Most of the land area is under heavy cloud cover. The Apollo 13 crew consisted of astronauts James A. Lovell Jr., commander; John L. Swigert Jr., command module pilot; and Fred W. Haise Jr., lunar module pilot.
"In spaceflight, when we orbited the Earth, we thought in terms of continents. We were over the US; now we're over a body of water. We're over Africa now; we're over Australia now.
In the lunar flight, we thought in terms of bodies. The Moon's here, the Sun's there, the Earth is there."
James Lovell (Chaikin, Voices, p. 25)