The Blue Marble: First human-taken photograph of the full earth (large format), Harrison Schmitt or Ronald Evans [Apollo 17], 7-19 December 1972.
A fabulous large format presentation vintage chromogenic print of the 'Blue Marble', the most reproduced photograph in the entire history of photography. Only this final Apollo 17 mission saw the Earth fully illuminated. This iconic photograph taken through the 80mm lens from a distance of about 30,000 km was credited to Schmitt who took most of the photographs of the Earth on the way to the Moon but there is a possibility that Ron Evans shot it (see mission transcript). All Apollo flights were heavily scheduled down to the minute. At the time this photo was taken, none of the astronauts was scheduled to do so. Thus this photograph was taken quickly in a stolen moment.
The photograph was released by NASA on Christmas Eve, four years to the day after the Apollo 8 Earthrise, and the image soon became known as the “Blue Marble,” probably the most widely distributed image in history. Noteworthy NASA photo editors cropped the black sky of space to make the Earth appear bigger than originally captured on film by the astronauts.
'A Kodak Paper' watermarks to verso. [NASA image AS17-148-22727]
Beautifully framed in our signature black gallery frame. Ready to hang.
Photograph is 14 W x 11 H in and Framed 30.75 H x 33.25 W.
Provenance | Marking the 50th anniversary of the last human voyage to the moon, Wright and LAMA Auction Houses presented One Giant Leap for Mankind: Vintage Photographs from the Victor Martin-Malburet Collection, Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Project Apollo (1961–1972), an auction that took place in Chicago on October 28th, 2022. This stunning collection comprises more than 300 original historic photographs from Project Apollo, the NASA program responsible for placing the first humans on the surface of the moon. Meticulously researched and collected over the course of 25 years by Victor Martin-Malburet, each image represents extraordinary feats of human exploration, imagination, and collaboration, and many of those being offered have never been published.
Harrison Schmitt or Ronald Evans
Printed 1972
Photograph is 14 W x 11 H in and Framed 30.75 H x 33.25 W.
Large format vintage chromogenic print on heavy fiber-based Kodak paper
Good condition. Newly framed.
$225 in the U.S.
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