Skip to main content

This auction has ended. View lot details

You may also be interested in

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

[Apollo 14] THE FIRST IMAGE OF LIFTOFF FROM THE MOON: captured from the LM window NASA, 31 January - 9 February 1971 image 1
[Apollo 14] THE FIRST IMAGE OF LIFTOFF FROM THE MOON: captured from the LM window NASA, 31 January - 9 February 1971 image 2
Lot 356

[Apollo 14] THE FIRST IMAGE OF LIFTOFF FROM THE MOON: captured from the LM window
NASA, 31 January - 9 February 1971

14 – 28 April 2025, 12:00 CEST
Paris, Avenue Hoche

Sold for €358.40 inc. premium

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

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 specialist

Ask about this lot

[Apollo 14] THE FIRST IMAGE OF LIFTOFF FROM THE MOON: captured from the LM window

NASA, 31 January - 9 February 1971

Printed 1971.

Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA image S-71-19500].
With "A Kodak Paper" watermark on the reverse, numbered "NASA S-71-19500" in red in the top margin (issued by NASA Manned Spacecraft Centre, Houston, Texas).

25.4 x 20.3 cm. (10 x 8 in.)

Historical context
Liftoff from Fra Mauro—Apollo 14 departs the Moon in the first onboard view captured from the LM.
This historic image, taken by the 16mm camera aboard Antares, captures the dramatic moment of Apollo 14's ascent from the lunar surface. As the LM ascent stage blasts off, the powerful force of its engine disturbs the scene below—scattering gold-coloured foil from the descent stage and sending the U.S. flag flapping violently in the exhaust.
For Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell, the moment of liftoff was charged with anticipation and apprehension. "There was really not any worry; it's just the apprehension, the anticipation of waiting for it to go," recalled Mitchell. "And since we'd never experienced that liftoff, we didn't know what we were going to feel. It was a pretty severe shock. It staggers you... it makes you sag." (Chaikin, Voices, p. 114)
With this ascent, Apollo 14 successfully concluded its groundbreaking return to lunar exploration—the first landing after the near-tragedy of Apollo 13.

Footnotes

Literature
Voices from the Moon, Chaikin, p. 115
Apollo Expeditions to the Moon (NASA SP-350), Cortright, ed., p. 243

Additional information

Bid now on these items