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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The official portrait of the first crew voyaging to another world: Astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders, NASA [Apollo 8], 13 November 1968

printed 1968
vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based Kodak paper 10 h × 8 w in (25 × 20 cm)
estimate: $1,200–1,800
result: $750
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A famous photograph of the first human beings who left Planet Earth.
Numbered to upper margin 'NASA S-68-50255' with NASA MSC caption and 'A Kodak Paper' watermarks to verso.

note: Media visuals referencing the original NASA photograph(s) not included.
literature: 'To the Moon', Newsweek, 30 December 1968, cover

print

Newsweek, 30 December 1968

The crew of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s first manned lunar voyage was scheduled to venture beyond Earth orbit for the first time, cross the vast translunar gulf and circle the Moon ten times to conduct navigational and photographic exercises.

James Lovell and Frank Borman were members of NASA’s Astronauts Group 2, also known as the New Nine, selected on September 17, 1962. William Anders was a member of NASA’s Astronaut Group 3, a group of fourteen astronauts selected in October 1963.

The Apollo 8 crew stands beside the Apollo Mission Simulator at the Kennedy Space Center after suiting up for simulation training in the simulator in preparation for the scheduled Apollo 8 lunar orbit mission. Left to right, are James Lovell, Command Module Pilot; William Anders, Lunar Module Pilot; and Frank Borman, Commander.
[NASA caption]

“It was an exploration mission. We took the human intellect and the human vision, the human mind, 240,000 miles away from its home. That was the importance. Whether we found a rock there or not was of no importance.”

—Frank Borman (Chaikin, Voices, pg. 184)

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