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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Richard Gordon’s “space cowboy” EVA riding the Gemini spacecraft, NASA [Gemini XI], 12-15 September 1966

printed 1966
vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based Kodak paper 8 h × 10 w in (20 × 25 cm)
estimate: $1,500–2,000
result: $1,000
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Astride the nose of Gemini 11, Gordon moves forward to attach a 100-foot line from the Agena, directly in front of him, to the manned vehicle, inspiring the crew: 'Ride ‘em, cowboy!'
Numbered to upper margin 'NASA S-66-54454' with 'A Kodak Paper' watermarks to verso.

note: Media visuals referencing the original NASA photograph(s) not included.
literature: LIFE, 30 September 1966, pg. 106 Space: A History of Space Exploration in Photographs, Chaikin, pg. 70 Exploring Space with a Camera (NASA SP-168), Cortright, ed., pg. 182

print

Astride the nose of Gemini 11, Gordon moves forward to attach a 100-foot line from the Agena, directly in front of him, to the manned vehicle. 

"I’m riding it like a cowboy,” he said to Command Pilot Pete Conrad. This photograph was taken with a movie camera mounted over the open hatch of the spacecraft. 

LIFE , 30 September 1966

“This photograph shows me astride the nose of the Gemini spacecraft during the umbilical EVA of Gemini 11. This pose inspired Pete Conrad to respond with the words, “Ride ‘em, cowboy!” 

Richard Gordon (Cortright, pg. 182)

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