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Lot 57
[Mercury Atlas 9] FIRST HIGH-RESOLUTION HASSELBLAD PHOTOGRAPH FROM SPACE: Earth's horizon over Western Tibet and Kashmir Gordon Cooper, 15-16 May 1963
14 – 28 April 2025, 12:00 CEST
Paris, Avenue Hoche€700 - €1,000
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[Mercury Atlas 9] FIRST HIGH-RESOLUTION HASSELBLAD PHOTOGRAPH FROM SPACE: Earth's horizon over Western Tibet and Kashmir
Gordon Cooper, 15-16 May 1963
Printed 1963.
Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA image S-63-6444].
Numbered "NASA S-63-6444" in red in the top margin, with NASA caption and "A Kodak Paper" watermark on the reverse (issued by NASA Manned Spacecraft Centre, Houston, Texas).
20.3 x 25.4 cm. (8 x 10 in.)
Historical context
The Mercury-Atlas 9 mission marked a breakthrough in human space photography. Equipped with the NASA-modified Hasselblad 500C, an 80mm lens, and 70mm GAF Anscochrome reversal film, astronaut Gordon Cooper had the time and tools to carefully frame his shots, producing groundbreaking results and convincing NASA of photography's importance. This stunning photograph captures the delicate, fragile blue layer of Earth's atmosphere on the horizon, contrasting beautifully with the infinite darkness of space. In the foreground, lakes, landscapes, and intricate cloud patterns are revealed in unprecedented detail from orbit.
Printed 1963.
Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA image S-63-6444].
Numbered "NASA S-63-6444" in red in the top margin, with NASA caption and "A Kodak Paper" watermark on the reverse (issued by NASA Manned Spacecraft Centre, Houston, Texas).
20.3 x 25.4 cm. (8 x 10 in.)
Historical context
The Mercury-Atlas 9 mission marked a breakthrough in human space photography. Equipped with the NASA-modified Hasselblad 500C, an 80mm lens, and 70mm GAF Anscochrome reversal film, astronaut Gordon Cooper had the time and tools to carefully frame his shots, producing groundbreaking results and convincing NASA of photography's importance. This stunning photograph captures the delicate, fragile blue layer of Earth's atmosphere on the horizon, contrasting beautifully with the infinite darkness of space. In the foreground, lakes, landscapes, and intricate cloud patterns are revealed in unprecedented detail from orbit.
Footnotes
"I was the first pilot to go off stabilization systems and go where I wanted," Cooper recalled. "So I made lots of pictures." He referenced an early NASA memo that read, "'If an astronaut desires, he may carry a camera.' That's the importance they gave to photography... It was great to be able to bring home some of those images to people who couldn't be up there in orbit and see those kinds of things. I think NASA finally swung around to realizing the importance of photography; even the diehards finally came around, admitting it had about the greatest impact of anything going".
(Schick and Van Haaften, pp. 26-30)
Watch more
CLICK HERE: "FLIGHT OF FAITH 7" USA'S 4TH MANNED ORBITAL FLIGHT PROJECT MERCURY
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