Lot 4008* - A209 Out of This World - Monday, 17. June 2024, 04.00 PM
LOT OF TWO PHOTOGRAPHIES
A: PHOTO OF VENUS, TAKEN BY NASA PIONEER VENUS
B: APOLLO 17, ‘ROVER’
1992, Orbit of Venus
Kodak photo
25.7 × 20.2 cm
Kodak photo
25.7 × 20.2 cm
On August 8, 1978, the Pioneer Venus Multiprobe spacecraft launched to study Venus, a planet that has an atmosphere 100 times denser than Earth’s atmosphere and is hotter than the melting point of zinc and lead. Pioneer Venus Multiprobe was composed of five components: the main spacecraft, the large probe and three identical small probes named North, Day and Night. Built by the Hughes Company in El Segundo, California, the Pioneer Venus Multiprobe project was managed by NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley.
The large probe separated from the main spacecraft 123 days after launch, on November 16, followed by the small probes on November 20, reaching and entering Venus’ atmosphere on December 4, 1978. The spacecraft continued to return data until October 8, 1992. While not expected to survive their fiery descent into the dense Venusian atmosphere, all four of the probes transmitted data down to the surface, with the Day probe transmitting from the surface for over an hour.
The photo presented here was taken by the Pioneer Venus on February 26, 1979. It shows the planet Venus from a distance that no human eye had ever witnessed before.
7 – 19 December 1972
‘NASA image AS-17-147-22526’
Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper
25.2 × 20 cm
Apollo 17 was the last mission of the Apollo program and the last manned flight to the moon to date. The spacecraft took off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on December 7, 1972.
In this photograph we can see Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan, commander of the mission, making a short checkout of the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) during the early part of the first Apollo 17 extravehicular activity (EVA) at the Taurus-Littrow landing site.
The large probe separated from the main spacecraft 123 days after launch, on November 16, followed by the small probes on November 20, reaching and entering Venus’ atmosphere on December 4, 1978. The spacecraft continued to return data until October 8, 1992. While not expected to survive their fiery descent into the dense Venusian atmosphere, all four of the probes transmitted data down to the surface, with the Day probe transmitting from the surface for over an hour.
The photo presented here was taken by the Pioneer Venus on February 26, 1979. It shows the planet Venus from a distance that no human eye had ever witnessed before.
7 – 19 December 1972
‘NASA image AS-17-147-22526’
Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper
25.2 × 20 cm
Apollo 17 was the last mission of the Apollo program and the last manned flight to the moon to date. The spacecraft took off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on December 7, 1972.
In this photograph we can see Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan, commander of the mission, making a short checkout of the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) during the early part of the first Apollo 17 extravehicular activity (EVA) at the Taurus-Littrow landing site.
CHF 1 000 / 1 500 | (€ 1 030 / 1 550)
Sold for CHF 1 875 (including buyer’s premium)
All information is subject to change.