2346/​6125

[Apollo 12] Portrait of Alan Bean with the reflection of the photographer in his visor. Pete Conrad, 14–24 November 1969, EVA 2. Printed 1969. Vintage gelatin silver print on fiber-based paper [NASA image AS12–49-7278]. 25.4×20.3 cm (10×8 in), with NASA caption numbered “69-H-1988” on the verso (NASA HeadQuarters, Washington, D.C.).

Literature: Full Moon, Light, pl. 69; The View from Space: American Astronaut Photography, 1962–1972, Schick and Van Haaften, pg. 46; Spacecam: Photographing the Final Frontier from Apollo to Hubble, Hope, pg. 21; Apollo: Through the Eyes of the Astronauts, Jacobs, pg. 14.

Pete Conrad took this sublime photograph of Alan Bean near Sharp Crater. Bean holds a container of lunar soil in his right hand. His Hasselblad camera is mounted on the control unit on his chest. Conrad is fully reflected in sharp detail in Alan Bean’s visor. This celebrated picture has also been described as the first self-portrait on the Moon (https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap060121.html). [NASA caption] MANNED SPACECRAFT CENTER, HOUSTON, TEXAS. An Apollo 12 astronaut is pictured with a container of lunar soil collected during the Apollo 12 extravehicular activity. The crewman wears a check-list on his left wrist to facilitate the following of a pre- planned pattern during the EVA. The astronaut who took the photograph is reflected in the face shield of his fellow crewman. Astronauts Charles Conrad Jr. and Alan L. Bean descended in the Apollo 12 Lunar Module to explore the lunar surface while Astronaut Richard F. Gordon Jr. remained with the Command and Service Modules in lunar orbit. “I’ve always thought those pictures... we took of each other on the Moon were all we were going to have left after it was over to remember what we did.” Pete Conrad (Schick and Van Haaften, p. 40).

Condition

Light edgewear and small creases to corners, small handling cracks, remnant of tape to verso, otherwise glossy print in excellent condition.

Auction

Space, 15 November 2023

Category
Estimate

15,000–20,000 DKK

Price realised

Not sold