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Lot 418
[Apollo 17] THE DRAMATIC NIGHTTIME LAUNCH OF THE FINAL HUMAN MISSION TO THE MOON (NASA's own copy, used and annotated, for the preparation of its final Apollo Science report) NASA, 7 December 1972
14 – 28 April 2025, 12:00 CEST
Paris, Avenue HocheSold for €1,664 inc. premium
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[Apollo 17] THE DRAMATIC NIGHTTIME LAUNCH OF THE FINAL HUMAN MISSION TO THE MOON (NASA's own copy, used and annotated, for the preparation of its final Apollo Science report)
NASA, 7 December 1972
Printed 1972.
Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA image S-72-55070] .
With original editorial labels in the white margins on the recto for publication in NASA's Apollo 17 Preliminary Science Report (NASA SP-330), with "A Kodak Paper" watermark and traces of previous mounting on the reverse, numbered "NASA S-72-55070" in red in the top margin (issued by NASA Manned Spacecraft Centre, Houston, Texas), together with an original NASA sheet indicating directives and notes (figure 4-3) for publication in the report.
20.3 x 25.4 cm. (8 x 10 in.)
Historical context
This photograph is NASA's own archival copy of the dramatic final launch of humans to another world, used and annotated for the production of the Apollo 17 Preliminary Science Report (NASA SP-330) on humanity's final voyage to the Moon.
An estimated 750,000 spectators witnessed history as the Saturn V rocket ignited the night sky at Kennedy Space Centre, shortly after midnight on December 7, 1972. Astronauts Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt, and Ron Evans became the last humans to voyage to the Moon.
"Apollo 20 was taken off the schedule five months after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had 'won' the Moon race. Apollo 18 and 19 were cancelled soon afterward, as budget cuts, and changing political priorities, impacted NASA. When Schmitt, Cernan and Evans prepared for a dramatic nighttime launch on December 7, 1972, they knew that it would be a good few years before anyone followed them to the Moon, but they never imagined that another half a century would pass, and still no one would have built upon their achievements."
Space historian Piers Bizony (Bizony, p. 169)
Printed 1972.
Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA image S-72-55070] .
With original editorial labels in the white margins on the recto for publication in NASA's Apollo 17 Preliminary Science Report (NASA SP-330), with "A Kodak Paper" watermark and traces of previous mounting on the reverse, numbered "NASA S-72-55070" in red in the top margin (issued by NASA Manned Spacecraft Centre, Houston, Texas), together with an original NASA sheet indicating directives and notes (figure 4-3) for publication in the report.
20.3 x 25.4 cm. (8 x 10 in.)
Historical context
This photograph is NASA's own archival copy of the dramatic final launch of humans to another world, used and annotated for the production of the Apollo 17 Preliminary Science Report (NASA SP-330) on humanity's final voyage to the Moon.
An estimated 750,000 spectators witnessed history as the Saturn V rocket ignited the night sky at Kennedy Space Centre, shortly after midnight on December 7, 1972. Astronauts Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt, and Ron Evans became the last humans to voyage to the Moon.
"Apollo 20 was taken off the schedule five months after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had 'won' the Moon race. Apollo 18 and 19 were cancelled soon afterward, as budget cuts, and changing political priorities, impacted NASA. When Schmitt, Cernan and Evans prepared for a dramatic nighttime launch on December 7, 1972, they knew that it would be a good few years before anyone followed them to the Moon, but they never imagined that another half a century would pass, and still no one would have built upon their achievements."
Space historian Piers Bizony (Bizony, p. 169)
Footnotes
[Apollo 17 Preliminary Science Report caption] FIGURE 4-3. Lift-off of the Apollo 17 vehicle from pad A, launch complex 39, NASA John F. Kennedy Space Centre, Florida, December 7, 1972, 05:33:00 G.M.T., the only nighttime launch of the Apollo series (S-72-55070).
[original NASA caption for the photograph] CAPE KENNEDY, FLORIDA
APOLLO 17 LIFTOFF - The huge, 363-feet tall Apollo 17 (Spacecraft 114/Lunar Module 12/Saturn 512) space vehicle is launched from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Centre, Florida, at 12:33 a.m. (EST), December 7, 1972. Apollo 17, the final lunar landing mission in NASA's Apollo program, was the first nighttime lift off of the Saturn V Launch vehicle. Aboard the Apollo 17 spacecraft were Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan, commander; Astronaut Ronald E. Evans, command module pilot; and Scientist-Astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt, lunar module pilot. Flame from the five F-1 engines of the Apollo/Saturn first (3-1C) stage illuminates the nighttime scene. A two-hour and forty-minute hold delayed the Apollo 17 launching.
Literature
Apollo 17 Preliminary Science Report (NASA SP-330), figure 4.3
LIFE, 29 December 1972, pp. 6-7 (variant)
TIME, 18 December 1972, p. 26 (variant)
Space: A History of Space Exploration in Photographs, Chaikin, p. 130
Apollo: Through the Eyes of the Astronauts, Jacobs, ed., pp. 6-7
Watch more
CLICK HERE : APOLLO 17 LUNAR MISSION 1972 " ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS " NASA DOCUMENTARY 17694