sciencetech-blog

comments

A collection of vintage Nasa photographs - including some of the first ever images from space and the first cosmic 'selfie' - are set to fetch a whopping £500,000 ($760,000) at auction.

The archive of more than 600 photographs, many of have never be published for public viewing, covers Nasa's groundbreaking space programme from its beginnings in the late 1950s through to the triumphant moon landing of 1969 and beyond.

The collection will be up for sale at Bloomsbury Auctions in London on 26 February.

#outofthisworld: A collection of photos are to go up for auction at Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions' saleroom in London on 26 February. Pictured is Buzz Aldrin taking a 'selfie' during the GEmini 12 mission in November 1966. It is estimated to sell for £800

One of the stars of the collection is the first ever photo of Earth from space, which was taken on a camera mounted on a rocket in 1946 that was blasted 65 miles above the atmosphere.

The camera snapped away at one frame every 1.5 seconds before the rocket plummeted back to Earth. The camera smashed on impact but the film role was salvaged and developed.

The resulting grainy black and white photographs were stitched together to make one shot - and it changed man's relationship with space forever.

Another highlight is a 'selfie' taken by legendary astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the Gemini 12 mission of 1966.

Aldrin, the mission pilot, took the shot of himself looking back towards Earth, unbeknownst that he was almost 50 years ahead of the trend.

The only known-of photo of Neil Armstrong's historic first steps on the Moon also features in the archive, as does an iconic 1972 shot of Apollo 17's Harrison 'Jack' Schmitt on the Moon with the Stars and Stripes in the foreground and Earth in the distance.

The pictures taken by John Glenn, the first astronaut to take a camera into space, and an album of shots of Ed White performing his 1965 spacewalk, the first by an American, are in the collection too.

Many of the photos remained unseen in the vaults at Nasa until the late 1980s when they were discovered by archivists.

This is the first photograph ever taken of Earth from space, stitched together by engineer Clyde Holliday from a V2 rocket, on 24 October 1946. It is expected to sell for £1,000

Valued at £1,000, this image, taken by astronaut Eugene Cernan, shows Harrison 'Jack' Schmitt with Earth above the US flag, during the Apollo 17 mission in December 1972

The curvature of Earth is seen from the orbiting spacecraft Gemini 11 in September 1966, estimated to sell for £800

Shown left is a £300 time-exposure of the Gemini 10 launch on 18 July 1966. Pictured right is a view of the giant Saturn V rocket ahead of the launch of Apollo 4 on 9 November 1967, on the pad at dawn with the moon in the background. It is estimated at £300

This photo by astronaut Richard Gordon on the Gemini 11 mission in September 1966 shows Libya, United Arab Republic and Sudan from space, looking a bit more like Mars than Earth. The image is expected to sell for £800

This photo by astronaut James McDivitt shows the first US Spacewalk, by Ed White over South California, during the Gemini 4 on 3 June 1965, and is expected to sell for a huge £5,000

This is the only clear photograph of Neil Armstrong on the Moon, during the Apollo 11 mission in July 1969, estimated at £1,500

The incredible collection of original photos has been painstakingly pieced together over several decades by a private collector.

He has now decided to sell the archive because it contains so many of the most significant space photos ever taken that it is complete.

The photos are being sold in individual lots and range in price from £300 ($460) to £10,000 ($15,250) at London's Bloomsbury Auctions.

It is the first time such a comprehensive collection of vintage Nasa photographs has ever been sold at auction.

A spokesman for the auction house said: 'This extraordinary collection ticks off all of the most significant moments in the history of Nasa space exploration.

'I can't think of a significant moment that doesn't feature in the archive.

'A collector has put together the remarkable collection over the space of a few decades.

'He has decided to sell it because he got a thrill out of collecting photos of the most significant moments in space history, and now the collection is all but complete the thrill is gone.

'The photos are all vintage, meaning they were printed from period negatives shortly after they were taken.

'It is certainly the largest collection of vintage Nasa photographs ever to come to auction.'

Buzz Aldrin's boot in lunar soil, during the Apollo 11 mission in July 1969, estimated at £750

Buzz Aldrin prior to becoming second human being to set foot upon the Moon during Apollo 11, estimated at a whopping £6,000

Astronaut James Irwin's 360-degree panoramic view with David Scott and one of the Apollo rovers is seen beside Hadley Rille, Station 9A on the lunar surface during Apollo 15 in August 1971. It is estimated to sell for £8,000

This eclipse of the sun by Earth was taken during the Apollo 12 mission November 1969, and is estimated at £750

An image from Ed White's personal photograph album of the Gemini 4 mission, June 1965, estimated at a staggering £10,000

Sarah Wheeler, head of photographs at Bloomsbury Auctions, added: 'It is incredible to realise that many photographs in this auction were unknown to the general public for decades until the complete Nasa photographic archive began to appear digitally on the internet.

'This is particularly true of the collection of mosaics, real boots-on-the-ground panoramas taken by the Apollo astronauts as they explored the lunar landscape.

'These spectacular images were pieced together from individual Hasselblad frames for internal use by Nasa scientists. We know of no such collection ever having been offered at auction.

'These photographs are more than merely documentary, many are simply sublime.

'They represent a golden age in the history of photography as well, when a few men went to the unknown to bring back awe-inspiring pictures.

'The view of the first Earthrise over the lunar horizon changed Man's relationship with the cosmos forever.'

The auction will be held on February 26. The collection will be on display at Mallett Antiques in London until the auction.

This photo by astronaut James McDivitt of the first US spacewalk again shows Ed White, estimated at £1,200

This image taken by astronaut Al Worden is an orbital panorama of the Humboldt Crater, during Apollo 15, in August 1971, and is expected to fetch anywhere between £3,000 to £5,000

On the left, a photo by astronaut Edgar Mitchell shows Alan Shepard and the American flag on the Apollo 14 mission in February 1971. It is estimated at £800. Right, Alan Bean is seen with the reflection of the photographer, Pete Conrad, while holding a sample capsule during the Apollo 12 mission in November 1969. It is estimated at £800