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Lot 421
[Apollo 17] THE BLUE MARBLE: first full-disk photograph of Planet Earth, captured by humans Harrison Schmitt or Ronald Evans, 7-19 December 1972
14 – 28 April 2025, 12:00 CEST
Paris, Avenue Hoche€7,000 - €10,000
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[Apollo 17] THE BLUE MARBLE: first full-disk photograph of Planet Earth, captured by humans
Harrison Schmitt or Ronald Evans, 7-19 December 1972
Printed 1972.
Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA image AS17-148-22727].
With "A Kodak Paper" watermark on the reverse, numbered "NASA AS17-148-22727" in red in the top margin (issued by NASA Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas).
20.3 x 25.4 cm. (8 x 10 in.)
Historical context
A marvelous print of the Blue Marble—the most reproduced photograph in history.
The Apollo 17 astronauts were the only humans to witness this breathtaking view of Earth's full disk, capturing it in stunning detail from approximately 30,000 km away. This iconic image embodies the awe-inspiring beauty and fragile isolation of our planet, serving as a timeless reminder of our shared responsibility to cherish and protect our Blue Marble.
As they gazed at their home planet, all three astronauts were equally struck by the view. Commander Gene Cernan marveled, "And I suppose we're seeing as 100 percent full Earth as we'll ever see. [...] Bob, it's these kind of views—these kind of views that stick with you forever." Meanwhile, Harrison Schmitt reflected on Earth's delicate beauty, "I'll tell you, if there ever was a fragile-appearing piece of blue in space, it's the Earth right now." (see mission transcript).
While initially credited to Schmitt, who took most of the Earth photographs en route to the Moon, there is a possibility that Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans may have taken it as the mission transcript suggests he had the camera in hand at one point. At the time this photograph was taken, no astronaut was specifically assigned to do so, making it an impromptu shot during a rare, unscheduled moment in the tightly orchestrated Apollo timeline.
Released by NASA on Christmas Eve, exactly four years after the Apollo 8 Earthrise, this image quickly became known as the Blue Marble and remains one of the most widely reproduced photographs in history. Interestingly, NASA editors cropped the original black sky of space to magnify Earth's appearance, enhancing its visual impact.
Schmitt later reflected on the profound significance of the image:
"This now-famous picture of the Earth [...] shows all of Africa, the continent of human origins and later migrations [...] When I took this picture, I could not help but be struck by the remarkable fact that humans from that now receding blue, green, red-yellow, and white globe could take such a picture. A new migration to places elsewhere in the solar system had begun."
Printed 1972.
Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA image AS17-148-22727].
With "A Kodak Paper" watermark on the reverse, numbered "NASA AS17-148-22727" in red in the top margin (issued by NASA Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas).
20.3 x 25.4 cm. (8 x 10 in.)
Historical context
A marvelous print of the Blue Marble—the most reproduced photograph in history.
The Apollo 17 astronauts were the only humans to witness this breathtaking view of Earth's full disk, capturing it in stunning detail from approximately 30,000 km away. This iconic image embodies the awe-inspiring beauty and fragile isolation of our planet, serving as a timeless reminder of our shared responsibility to cherish and protect our Blue Marble.
As they gazed at their home planet, all three astronauts were equally struck by the view. Commander Gene Cernan marveled, "And I suppose we're seeing as 100 percent full Earth as we'll ever see. [...] Bob, it's these kind of views—these kind of views that stick with you forever." Meanwhile, Harrison Schmitt reflected on Earth's delicate beauty, "I'll tell you, if there ever was a fragile-appearing piece of blue in space, it's the Earth right now." (see mission transcript).
While initially credited to Schmitt, who took most of the Earth photographs en route to the Moon, there is a possibility that Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans may have taken it as the mission transcript suggests he had the camera in hand at one point. At the time this photograph was taken, no astronaut was specifically assigned to do so, making it an impromptu shot during a rare, unscheduled moment in the tightly orchestrated Apollo timeline.
Released by NASA on Christmas Eve, exactly four years after the Apollo 8 Earthrise, this image quickly became known as the Blue Marble and remains one of the most widely reproduced photographs in history. Interestingly, NASA editors cropped the original black sky of space to magnify Earth's appearance, enhancing its visual impact.
Schmitt later reflected on the profound significance of the image:
"This now-famous picture of the Earth [...] shows all of Africa, the continent of human origins and later migrations [...] When I took this picture, I could not help but be struck by the remarkable fact that humans from that now receding blue, green, red-yellow, and white globe could take such a picture. A new migration to places elsewhere in the solar system had begun."
Footnotes
From the mission transcript (photograph taken at about T+005:06:24 after launch):
005:03:10 Evans: Oh, I'll change the lens now.
005:03:11 Overmyer (Mission Control): 17, Houston. It's about 30 seconds from the (SIVB) evasive maneuver burn.
005:03:17 Cernan: Okay.
005:03:19 Evans: Here, Jack, can you see him (the discarded SIVB) good? Check the settings there. I took an f/22 stop.
005:03:51 Cernan: There it goes, Bob.
005:03:52 Evans: There it goes; finally. [...]
005:17:37 Schmitt: That view of the Earth for a rev there was something I was looking forward to and I was not disappointed.
005:17:49 Overmyer (Mission Control): That's great, Jack. [...]
005:21:07 Schmitt: Could you give us our distance from the Earth? [...]
005:21:24 Overmyer: 18,100 [nautical miles, 33,520 km], FIDO (Flight Dynamics Officer) says. [...]
005:21:27 Cernan: Okay. And I suppose we're seeing as 100 percent full Earth as we'll ever see; certainly as I've ever seen. It appears to be - it may be a little bit - a little bit of a terminator way out to the - well, to the east - out beyond Australia and beyond India. But beyond that it's about 99 percent pure.
005:22:59 Cernan: Bob, it's these kind of views - these kind of views that stick with you forever. [...]
005:25:56 Cernan: You know - and there's no strings holding it up either. It's out there all by itself. [...]
005:49:47 Overmyer (Mission Control): Did you get any pictures of that, Jack?
005:49:50 Schmitt: Oh, yes. We got some pictures earlier. I'm going to get another one here in a minute. I'll tell you, if there ever was a fragile-appearing piece of blue in space, it's the Earth right now.
Literature
TIME, 8 January 1973, p. 39
Space, a history of space exploration through photographs, Chaikin, p. 131
Apollo through the eyes of the astronauts, Jacobs, p.127
Full Moon, Light, plate 114
Spacecam, Hope, p. 151
Apollo Expeditions to the Moon (NASA SP-350), Cortright, ed., p. 294