Fascinating photos up at auction celebrate the early era of space exploration

An earlier era of such exploration is evident in Berkshire saleroom Dreawetts’ March 17 dedicated auction, however.

The Space Exploration Photography and Ephemera sale includes more than 600 chronicling the history of man's exploration of space, from those early expeditions to some of the later trips of the 1990s.

The lots come from a small number of private collections. Dreweatts specialist Ania Hanrahan said: “The interest in space photography was reignited following the 50th anniversary of the moon landing two years ago and this has been enhanced further still by ongoing activities by NASA and other space agencies as well as private endeavours that have become front-page news.

“We wanted to put together an auction for some time now, but we had to find the right material. I was able to do that by approaching a number of key vendors that allowed me to assemble this exceptional collection of pieces that tells the story of space exploration, from the fledgling first steps after the war through to man walking on the moon and beyond.”

Here is a brief video introducing the sale and below are five ideas for what to buy.

Spacewalk this way

When astronaut Ed White was pictured during the first US spacewalk it was not only the first still photograph of a human in space, but also the first taken by another human – James McDivitt. Up to that moment all images released were taken by television or monitoring cameras.

Shown top, it depicts him taking his historic 23-minute spacewalk on June 3, 1965, attached to the Gemini 4 spacecraft by a 7.6 metre tether line.

Estimate £1000-2000. View the catalogue entry for the photograph Ed White in space on thesaleroom.com.

All rise

Earthrise taken from Apollo 8 – estimate £3000-5000 at Dreweatts.

One of the most famous space images depicts the Earth rising above the Moon’s horizon. This is the first Earthrise witnessed by humans and captured in colour on camera. The view was observed by the crew of Apollo 8 at 75h 48m and 39s hours of the mission and during the fourth orbit of the Moon, on December 24, 1968.

Taken with a 70 mm Hasselblad camera, 250 mm telephoto lens, this vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based paper measures 25.2 x 20.5cm (10 x 8in). Estimate £3000-5000.

To view Earthrise taken by the Apollo 8 crew, see thesaleroom.com.

Earth, wind film and fire

Photo from Lunar Orbiter 1, the first of the Earth taken by the first US spacecraft to orbit the Moon - estimate £800-1200 at Dreweatts.

Lunar Orbiter 1 was the first US spacecraft to orbit the Moon. Its mission was to obtain photographs of the Moon’s surface. The 200 photos sent by each of the five Lunar Orbiters helped NASA select safe landing sites for the Apollo missions. Other objectives of the programme were to collect data on the Moon’s gravitational field, and study radiation and micrometeoroid flux in the vicinity of the Moon.

This image was taken by the camera onboard Lunar Orbiter 1 – the first photograph of the Earth on August 23, 1966. The vintage gelatin silver print on fibre-based paper measures 25.5 x 20.3cm (10 x 8in).

Estimate £800-1200. View the catalogue entry for the Lunar Orbiter 1 photograph of the Earth on thesaleroom.com

Shepard but not sheepish

Photo of Alan Shepard, first US man in space – estimate £500-1000 at Dreweatts.

While Neil Armstrong is a well-known name, that of Alan Shepard is not so familiar despite his claim to fame: the first American in space.

A pair of photos guided at £500-1000 at Dreweatts includes a shot of Shepard taken by the pilot monitoring camera on the Freedom 7 spacecraft on May 5, 1961 – eight years before the successful Moon landing mission and the first photo taken of a human in space. The vintage gelatin silver print on a fibre-based paper measures 18.5 x 16.5cm (7¼ x 6½in).

The second photo taken by the Maurer camera, a vintage gelatin silver print on a fibre-based paper, 13 x 10 cm (5 x 4cm) with margins, shows a view of Earth from suborbit on the same day.

Check thesaleroom.com to bid for this photo of Alan Shepard taken by the pilot monitoring camera on the Freedom 7 spacecraft.

Russian to get there first

Last in this mini selection but certainly not least in importance is a set of seven early portraits of cosmonauts in their flight gear, including Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space and in Earth orbit, and Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space.

Also featured are Pavel Popovich; Andriyan Nikolayev, the third cosmonaut to fly into space; Herman Titov, the second human to orbit the Earth; Valerii Bykovsky; and Alexei Leonov, the first human to perform a spacewalk.

Yep, the Soviets got there first. But not to the Moon.

These vintage gelatin silver prints on fibre-based paper, with captions affixed and APN (Novosti Press Agency) stamps on the verso, are all dated 1961-62 and estimated at £300-500 together.

Bid for seven portraits of cosmonauts including Gagarin and Tereshkova on thesaleroom.com.