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Lot 353
[Apollo 14] COVER OF NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC: Alan Shepard with the MET during the excursion to Cone Crater Edgar Mitchell, 31 January - 9 February 1971, EVA 2
14 – 28 April 2025, 12:00 CEST
Paris, Avenue HocheSold for €768 inc. premium
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[Apollo 14] COVER OF NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC: Alan Shepard with the MET during the excursion to Cone Crater
Edgar Mitchell, 31 January - 9 February 1971, EVA 2
Printed 1971.
Vintage gelatin silver print on fibre-based paper [NASA image AS14-68-9405].
Blank on the reverse (issued by NASA).
25.4 x 20.3 cm. (10 x 8 in.)
Historical context
Starting the first long-range exploration of the Moon—Apollo 14 at Station A.
This famous photograph from the Station A panoramic sequence—captured by Edgar Mitchell and later featured on the cover of National Geographic (July 1971)—shows Alan Shepard at the first stop on Apollo 14's traverse to Cone Crater, about 150 metres east-northeast of the LM Antares. Shepard is handling a double core sampling tube, with a hammer in his right hand. Deeply etched in the powdery regolith, the astronauts' footprints mark the untouched lunar surface, a testament to the Moon's isolation for billions of years.
To Shepard's right stands the Modular Equipment Transporter (MET)—a crucial tool for the mission. While the MET lacked the mobility of the Lunar Rover used in later Apollo missions, it significantly enhanced the astronauts' ability to transport more samples, tools, and containers than they could have carried by hand. Mounted on the MET is the 16mm camera, which captured their movements as they ventured into one of the most geologically intriguing sites of the Apollo program.
Printed 1971.
Vintage gelatin silver print on fibre-based paper [NASA image AS14-68-9405].
Blank on the reverse (issued by NASA).
25.4 x 20.3 cm. (10 x 8 in.)
Historical context
Starting the first long-range exploration of the Moon—Apollo 14 at Station A.
This famous photograph from the Station A panoramic sequence—captured by Edgar Mitchell and later featured on the cover of National Geographic (July 1971)—shows Alan Shepard at the first stop on Apollo 14's traverse to Cone Crater, about 150 metres east-northeast of the LM Antares. Shepard is handling a double core sampling tube, with a hammer in his right hand. Deeply etched in the powdery regolith, the astronauts' footprints mark the untouched lunar surface, a testament to the Moon's isolation for billions of years.
To Shepard's right stands the Modular Equipment Transporter (MET)—a crucial tool for the mission. While the MET lacked the mobility of the Lunar Rover used in later Apollo missions, it significantly enhanced the astronauts' ability to transport more samples, tools, and containers than they could have carried by hand. Mounted on the MET is the 16mm camera, which captured their movements as they ventured into one of the most geologically intriguing sites of the Apollo program.
Footnotes
From the mission transcript when the photograph was taken:
132:16:24 Mitchell: Al, you haven't taken a pan, have you?
132:16:28 Shepard: Nope.
132:16:29 Mitchell: Okay. I'm starting with the pan.
132:18:16 Shepard: Okay, Houston. We've got almost two complete tubes here, about one and seven-eighths tubes, I would say.
132:18:28 Haise (Mission Control): Roger, Al.
Literature
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, July 1971, cover
Arnold, plate 19, Apollo: Through the Eyes of the Astronauts, Jacobs, p. 95
Spacecam: Photographing the Final Frontier from Apollo to Hubble, Hope, p. 33
Apollo Expeditions to the Moon (NASA SP-350), Cortright, ed., p. 237