Vintage NASA Photographs Go Up for Auction

Culture&Life

Buzz Aldrin snaps first space selfie in 1966 - Credit: NASA

An extraordinary collection of Vintage NASA Space photos is going up for auction in New York. These are intricate glimpses of the universe and astronauts captured by NASA photographers in the early years.

The collection on the Artnet website discloses photographs dating back to 1965. Titled “The Final Frontier: Vintage NASA Photographs”, bidding is open from now till January 10, 2024.

However, the collection is not limited to photos from the 1960s. The oldest image in the sale is one dating back to 1984; Bruce McCandless II, an image about the first untethered spacewalk.

“The Final Frontier: Vintage NASA Photographs” includes Ed White manoeuvering in space in June 1965 and is expected to sell between 4,000–6,000 US dollars. Another photograph is the Apollo 8, First Humans to View Earthrise taken in December 1968. Also estimated to go between 10,000–15,000 US dollars.

Photography for NASA became a requisite in the 1960s during the “political arms and space race against the Soviet Union”. NASA subsequently appointed Richard Underwood as chief of photography and he diligently captured all the travels to the moon thereon. He further taught astronauts who advocated taking photographs on their missions how to frame good shots in space.

The auction site, Artnet describes this collection as “One of the most enduring and powerful images from America’s space program.”