The famous auction house Christie’s announced the sale of about 2,400 vintage original photographs of NASA’s space explorations as part of its ‘Voyage To Another World: The Victor Martin-Malburet Photograph Collection.’
The collection will feature some landmark photographs that include the only picture of Neil Armstrong – the first man to reach the moon’s surface – on the moon next to an American flag, Buzz Aldrin taking a selfie with the earth in the background, Laika the dog in a space capsule shortly before it became the first animal to orbit the earth, and the pathbreaking ‘Blue Marble’ picture, which is the first fully illuminated photo of Earth taken by a human in space.
This collection is due to be the biggest and the most comprehensive private collection of NASA photographs ever presented at an auction. It will also encompass pictures that were not released by NASA at the time that the space missions were conducted.
This breathtaking collection of photographs has been assembled by Victor Martin-Malburet over a period of one and a half decades.
“The astronauts are often portrayed as great scientists and heroes, but rarely are they hailed as some of the most significant photographers of all time. The early pioneers of Mercury and Gemini were given as a canvas space and the Earth; the Apollo astronauts an alien world. From the thin protections of their space capsules and EMUs (Extravehicular Mobility Units), they captured, with skill and daring, photographs which immediately embraced the iconography of the sublime, inspiring awe and wonder,” Victor Martin-Malburet commented.
The sale of the photographs will be held online until 19th November this year and the pictures are worth between £800 to £30,000.
“In a time when photography was still analogue, requiring lightsensitive chemistry, film and photographic papers, the astronauts were instructed by NASA, Hasselblad, Kodak, Zeiss specialists and by Life and National Geographic photographers such as Ralph Morse and Dean Conger,” the press release said.
To read more about the photos and the auction, click here.
