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Lot 365
[Apollo 15] THE BREATHTAKING HADLEY CANYON: high-resolution lunar surface panorama from station 10 David Scott, 26 July - 7 August 1971, EVA 3
14 – 28 April 2025, 12:00 CEST
Paris, Avenue Hoche€3,000 - €5,000
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[Apollo 15] THE BREATHTAKING HADLEY CANYON: high-resolution lunar surface panorama from station 10
David Scott, 26 July - 7 August 1971, EVA 3
Printed 1971.
Original montage comprising thirteen vintage gelatin silver prints on fibre-based paper collaged together [NASA image AS15-89-12100 to AS15-89-12159].
Numbered between "NASA AS15-89-12100" and "AS15-89-12159" in black in the top margin, blank on the reverse (issued by NASA Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas).
Overall size: 43 x 116 cm. (21 x 45 in.)
Historical context
The most spectacular moonscape of all Apollo missions.
Spanning up to 1.5 km wide and plunging 400 meters deep, Hadley Canyon—winding across the lunar plain at the foot of the towering 15,000-foot Mount Hadley—remains one of the Moon's most enigmatic geological formations.
For the first time on the lunar surface, Apollo 15 astronauts used a 500mm telephoto lens mounted on a Hasselblad 500EL data camera, allowing them to capture distant features in unprecedented detail.
From the canyon's edge at Station 10, David Scott captured this extraordinary telephoto panorama, stretching across the far wall of Hadley Canyon from Bennett Hill (left) to Hill 305 (right) beyond the mare surface. Through the powerful 500mm lens, the rille appears much narrower than its actual one-kilometer width, with the photographed area covering approximately 800 meters. The canyon's edge—where Scott stood to take these images—is visible in the foreground.
Reflecting on the surreal landscape before him, Scott was overwhelmed by the sheer beauty of Hadley:
"Oh, the beauty! The spectacular beauty! Oh, yeah, that is, to coin a phrase, mind-boggling. It's absolutely mind-boggling, because you cannot believe that it is really that spectacular. I didn't expect the beauty of it. That's the one thing everybody talks about, and you can't appreciate it until you get there and see it."
— David Scott (Chaikin, Space, p. 66)
Printed 1971.
Original montage comprising thirteen vintage gelatin silver prints on fibre-based paper collaged together [NASA image AS15-89-12100 to AS15-89-12159].
Numbered between "NASA AS15-89-12100" and "AS15-89-12159" in black in the top margin, blank on the reverse (issued by NASA Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas).
Overall size: 43 x 116 cm. (21 x 45 in.)
Historical context
The most spectacular moonscape of all Apollo missions.
Spanning up to 1.5 km wide and plunging 400 meters deep, Hadley Canyon—winding across the lunar plain at the foot of the towering 15,000-foot Mount Hadley—remains one of the Moon's most enigmatic geological formations.
For the first time on the lunar surface, Apollo 15 astronauts used a 500mm telephoto lens mounted on a Hasselblad 500EL data camera, allowing them to capture distant features in unprecedented detail.
From the canyon's edge at Station 10, David Scott captured this extraordinary telephoto panorama, stretching across the far wall of Hadley Canyon from Bennett Hill (left) to Hill 305 (right) beyond the mare surface. Through the powerful 500mm lens, the rille appears much narrower than its actual one-kilometer width, with the photographed area covering approximately 800 meters. The canyon's edge—where Scott stood to take these images—is visible in the foreground.
Reflecting on the surreal landscape before him, Scott was overwhelmed by the sheer beauty of Hadley:
"Oh, the beauty! The spectacular beauty! Oh, yeah, that is, to coin a phrase, mind-boggling. It's absolutely mind-boggling, because you cannot believe that it is really that spectacular. I didn't expect the beauty of it. That's the one thing everybody talks about, and you can't appreciate it until you get there and see it."
— David Scott (Chaikin, Space, p. 66)
Footnotes
Due to time constraints and the limits of their equipment, the astronauts could not descend into Hadley Canyon for a closer study—much like explorers standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon. But this remarkable panorama offered geologists an unprecedented window into the Moon's ancient volcanic history, revealing the story of mare deposition and the forces that shaped the lunar highlands.
More than a geological survey, this image captures the breathtaking beauty of another world, forever changing the way we see the Moon—not as a distant celestial body, but as an awe-inspiring landscape waiting to be explored.
From the mission transcript when the panorama was taken:
166:20:51 Allen (Mission Control): Dave, are you firing off the big camera?
166:21:00 Scott: Yup.
Literature
National Geographic, to the mountains of the Moon, February 1972, pp. 242-243 (variant)
Apollo 15 preliminary science report (NASA SP-289), p.5-27, figure 5-34 (variant)
Watch more
CLICK HERE: Apollo 15 - In The Mountains Of The Moon (1971)