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Lot 390
[Apollo 16] PORTRAIT OF JOHN YOUNG ON THE MOON AT THE DESCARTES SCIENTIFIC SITE Charles Duke, 16-27 April 1972, EVA 1
14 – 28 April 2025, 12:00 CEST
Paris, Avenue HocheSold for €486.40 inc. premium
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[Apollo 16] PORTRAIT OF JOHN YOUNG ON THE MOON AT THE DESCARTES SCIENTIFIC SITE
Charles Duke, 16-27 April 1972, EVA 1
Printed 1972.
Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA image AS16-114-18388].
With "A Kodak Paper" watermark on the reverse, numbered "NASA AS16-114-18388" 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
A superb lunar portrait.
This iconic photograph of Apollo 16 Commander John Young was taken by Lunar Module Pilot Charles Duke at the Descartes scientific site (ALSEP site), 90 metres from the Lunar Module Orion.
Young is seen with the Hasselblad camera mounted on the remote-control unit of his chest, carefully working with a sample bag and using the top of the camera as a work surface. His backpack's communication antenna extends above him, silhouetted against the blackness of space.
This image encapsulates the scientific ambition of Apollo 16—an exploration mission that pushed the boundaries of human knowledge by venturing into one of the Moon's most geologically complex regions.
Printed 1972.
Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA image AS16-114-18388].
With "A Kodak Paper" watermark on the reverse, numbered "NASA AS16-114-18388" 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
A superb lunar portrait.
This iconic photograph of Apollo 16 Commander John Young was taken by Lunar Module Pilot Charles Duke at the Descartes scientific site (ALSEP site), 90 metres from the Lunar Module Orion.
Young is seen with the Hasselblad camera mounted on the remote-control unit of his chest, carefully working with a sample bag and using the top of the camera as a work surface. His backpack's communication antenna extends above him, silhouetted against the blackness of space.
This image encapsulates the scientific ambition of Apollo 16—an exploration mission that pushed the boundaries of human knowledge by venturing into one of the Moon's most geologically complex regions.
Footnotes
Behind Young, the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP) is deployed, including the lunar surface drill, the Heat Flow Experiment, and the three-sensor Lunar Surface Magnetometre. To the right, the Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG) sits as a vital power source for the experiments.
From the mission transcript when the photograph was taken (at T+122:46:09 after launch):
122:45:13 Young: Okay. Charlie, you got my camera?
122:45:15 Duke: Yeah, and it's filthy. Get a little shovelful of that stuff.
122:45:25 Young: Gosh, Charlie, it does look like caliche.
122:45:27 Duke: Doesn't it look like caliche?
122:45:28 Young: Yeah, but it's just a bunch of white frags. I believe. [...]
122:45:50 Young: (To Houston) Okay, that sample of white material is going in bag 355, Houston.
122:45:55 England: Okay, bag 355. (Pause)
122:46:09 Duke: Okay, John, I got your picture.