One Giant Leap for Mankind: Vintage Photographs from the Victor Martin-Malburet Collection 
28 October 2022
One Giant Leap for Mankind: Vintage Photographs from the Victor Martin-Malburet Collection 
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First rendezvous in space, at 17,000 mph: Gemini VII spacecraft orbiting the Earth (large format), Thomas Stafford [Gemini VI-A], 15-16 December 1965

printed 1965
large format vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based paper, flush-mounted on original NASA board image: 15¼ h × 19 w in (39 × 48 cm) card: 16 h × 20 w in (41 × 51 cm)
estimate: $3,000–5,000
result: $625
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This superb photograph was taken by Thomas Stafford with a Hasselblad 500C camera and its 80mm lens using Kodak SO 217 film with an ASA of 1964. The two spacecraft are some 40 feet apart here. Earth can be seen about 160 miles below.
[NASA image S-65-63219]

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About six hours after liftoff, while passing over the Hawaii tracking station on Gemini VI-A’s fourth orbit, Schirra reported that he and Stafford had caught up with Borman and Lovell. 

This superb photograph was taken by Thomas Stafford with a Hasselblad 500C camera and its 80mm lens using Kodak SO 217 film with an ASA of 1964. The two spacecraft are some 40 feet apart here. Earth can be seen about 160 miles below.

“The ability to take this photo was very gratifying after the numerous delays we encountered in performing the world’s first rendezvous mission. The Gemini VI-A spacecraft was launched on the third attempt to perform the rendezvous and performed it flawlessly. After the hard work and effort of over a year, we finally achieved the key step that will lead us to the lunar-landing mission.”

—Thomas Stafford (Cortright, pg. 165)

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