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EARLY SPACE EXPLORATION

LAUNCH LAUNCH

Early Space Exploration

NATIONAL SPACE DAY 2023

Celebrate National Space Day with Selkirk! This annual event commemorates the history of space exploration and serves to inspire advances in science and technology; Selkirk is honored to auction this selection of objects, photographs, and ephemera illustrating the human exploration of outer space. This auction, titled LAUNCH: Early Space Exploration, will begin at 10 am CDT May 5th and features 69 lots. Our gallery doors are currently open for

preview from 10 am to 4 pm, with extended hours until 8 pm the day prior, where will be hosting a small reception. Bids can be placed online at selkirkauctions.com, as well as at our office or over the phone for absentee or telephone bids. Our specialists are available during regular business hours to answer any questions regarding items in the sale, reachable at our office number 314.696.9041 or via email at info@selkirkauctions.com.

Our Pale Blue Dot.

LAUNCH is a proud collection boasting historical pieces of the Space Age. Spanning from the first crewed flight of Project Mercury in 1961 to the Skylab that was stationed during the later 1970s, and beyond, the rich history recorded through the preservation of this material is invaluable. The first 15 lots of the sale consist of photography prints from the Apollo lunar missions. A large format chromogenic print of Buzz Aldrin’s iconic moonwalk opens the sale at lot 1. These prints and photographs show history as it was in the making, featuring landing modules, lunar rovers, and clad astronauts saluting from the

moon. Orbit and mission charts like lots 16 through 21 further detail the stories of these accomplishments. Objects like the heat shield fragments from the Gemini missions (lots 34 and 36) traveled hundreds of miles into space, and back on Earth, provide a sense of tangibility to one of humankind’s greatest feats. Similarly, patches, pins, pamphlets, scale models, and other ephemera serve as physical reminders of our first journeys into space. Printed literature, such as autobiographical works (lot 55) and period news publications (lot 46), offer in-depth and authentic accounts of these events. The final 11 lots of the sale consist of fallen meteorites recovered from across the globe.

Featured image

APOLLO 8 “EARTHRISE” PRINT FROM A PHOTOGRAPH

December 24th, 1968, NASA. Vintage large format chromogenic print of a photograph taken by William Anders from the Apollo 8 command module, upon emerging from the dark side of the moon on the third lunar orbit, repeated “This Paper Manufactured by Kodak” watermark and hand-written notations to verso.

TAKEN BY WILLIAM ANDERS

ASTRONAUT TURNED ARTIST

Alan Bean of Apollo 12

Although having not pursued his artistic career in earnest until he was nearly 50 years old, Alan LaVern Bean left a lasting impression in the art world as the revered astronaut-turned-artist.

Bean was born March 15, 1932 in north Texas, and although his family moved often due to his father’s role as an agricultural scientist, they remained in the state throughout his childhood. He grew up near different air bases and became enamored with aviation. With an earned scholarship, Bean was able to pursue his childhood dream and completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 1955. He was commissioned by the Navy shortly after graduation and a year later earned his naval aviator wings. By 1960 Bean had graduated from the US Naval Test

Pilot School, where he flew as a test pilot for several types of military and civilian aircraft, logging thousands of hours of Earth-bound flight. It was during this time in Maryland that he was also enrolled at St. Mary’s College, where he took a few entry-level art classes, including drawing, watercolor, and oil painting.

After initial rejection, Bean was selected by NASA to join the astronaut program in 1963. And, at the insistence of Pete Conrad, whom Bean had previously trained under, the two were selected alongside veteran astronaut Richard Gordon for the second manned lunar mission – Apollo 12. Slated for November 1969, just four months following the first moon landing, this mission intended to correct mistakes made the first time around, including the miscalculated landing site. They were

Artist Alan Bean pictured in his home studio among some of his work. Photo from the autobiographical book “Apollo: An Eyewitness Account.”

also equipped to take more lunar samples back to Earth and install the first nuclear power generator station on the moon. Bean became the fourth man to walk on the moon in November 1969, spending 31 hours and 31 minutes on the moon’s surface. While performing their designated tasks, Conrad and Bean also planned to use a self-timer attachment to their camera in an attempt to confuse and surprise the command team with a photo of the two together. Unfortunately, the timer was not found until after they had completed the mission and the photo was not taken. But, one of Bean’s most well-known pieces was meant to emulate what that photo would have looked like, titled The Fabulous Photo We Never Took . As well as a means to

record history, Bean utilized his art to capture what wasn’t, painting works such as Tracy’s Boulder . This piece depicted Apollo 17’s Gene Cernan’s lunar walk, where he described to Bean his wish to have written his daughter’s name into the lunar dust. So, with his artistic liberty, Bean painted a panoramic scene showing what Cernan meant to leave behind.

As an astronaut, Bean established 11 world records in space and astronautics. His second and final space flight for the Skylab 3 mission (1973) spanned a record 59 days across 24.4 million miles. He also received two NASA and two Navy Distinguished Service Medals as well as the Navy Astronaut Wings.

“I feel blessed every day when I’m working on these paintings... the first artist to ever go to another world and try to tell stories that people care about.”

“Tiptoeingonthe Ocean of Storms”

With 18 years as a NASA member under his belt, Bean retired in 1981 to become a fulltime artist. He wanted to utilize his unique first-hand experience in space to create art that otherwise, in his eyes, could not be made. He has noted that “[his] role as an artist is not to duplicate nature but to interpret it in ways that are beautiful and important[.]” Bean decided that he wanted to make interesting the otherwise monotonous grey landscape of the moon, stating, “I had to figure out a way to add color to the Moon without ruining it.” His use of added, unnatural hues became more refined and intensified further in his career. He cites Claude Monet as a

source of inspiration, referring to the artist’s impressionistic inclusion of vivid colors. He has noted, “If I were a scientist painting the moon, I would paint it gray. I’m an artist, so I can add colors to the Moon.”

It was July 2009, the 40 th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, that Bean exhibited his work at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. Today, his works remain on display alongside articles from the mission. Collections of his are viewable at different galleries across the nation.

Unique Technique

As his career progressed, Bean wanted to futher connect his works to the far away world he was recreating. He would texturize the surface of his art boards, which were made from plywood used in airplane construction, with a thick modeling medium, emulating the rugged terrain and uneven edges. Pictured top left is his hammer that was used on the moon as well as a cast of his boot, which he would wield to recreate his unique “lunar” texture. Moondust taken from keepsake items would be mixed into the modeling medium to give each work a physical connection to the Ocean of Storms.

HadleyRille taken from “Apollo: An Eyewitness Account.”

DEBUNK: The Moon Conspiracy

CONTEXT

Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were a part of the famous Apollo 11 mission that landed humans on the moon for the first time in 1969. Many conspiracy theories have since circulated regarding the moon landing. On January 15, 2023, an Instagram user shared a short clip with overlaid text saying “(Secret Footage)” and additional text with a voiceover saying, “Buzz Aldrin admits the moon landing was fake.” In the video, a woman from the audience asks Aldrin about the scariest moment of his journey. In response, Aldrin appears to answer, “Scariest?... It didn’t happen. It could have been scary.” The user also captioned the post with hashtags such as “#moon #moonlanding #staywoke #wakeup #conspiracytheory.” Other similar clips have been shared on Instagram with the same claim.

While Aldrin did say these words, he was saying that there was “no scariest moment” during the mission, not accepting that the moon landing was fake.

IN FACT

On June 7, 2015, Oxford Union published the complete video on its website with the caption “Buzz AldrinQ&A.” The Oxford Union is a debating society in the city of Oxford, England, and draws its membership primarily from the University of Oxford.

The Q&A begins with the host asking Aldrin, “When you accepted the mission to the moon, how sure you were you would make it back?” Aldrin answers, “98 percent, 95 percent? That’s what they told us.” The rest of the debate consists of several other questions related to the moon landing. Aldrin replies with his experiences on the moon and the mission.

At around the 30:15 timestamp, a member of the audience asks Aldrin what the scariest moment of the journey was, to which Aldrin answers, “Scariest, it didn’t happen; it could have been scary.” The host then softly tells Aldrin something. Aldrin then

discusses how a circuit breaker broke in the lunar module. “I looked down, and below this sort of dust, there was something that didn’t look like it belonged there,” says Aldrin. “There was a circuit breaker, a broken circuit breaker.” He adds that he used a pen to push the circuit breaker to fix the problem. However, the viral Instagram video cuts off these remarks, leaving his “It didn’t happen” comment without context. In reality, while Aldrin does make this remark, he does not mean the moon landing itself.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) website has a section devoted to Aldrin, which carries details about him and all his achievements. On the moon landing, NASA states, “On July 20, 1969, Buzz and Neil Armstrong made their historic Apollo 11 moonwalk, becoming the first two humans to set foot on another world. An estimated 600 million people – at that time, the world’s largest television audience in history –witnessed this unprecedented heroic endeavor.” NASA also has a page dedicated to the Apollo 11 mission, which carries minute details of the journey and its objectives. [...] Despite widespread documentation of the mission and findings from the moon, claims that the moon landing was faked have been rampant for years.

THE VERDICT

Aldrin’s words at a Q&A session at the Oxford Union in 2015 have been taken out of context. Aldrin initially said there was no scariest moment during the mission but did not state that the moon landing didn’t happen. Further, during the Q&A session, he spoke about many moments from his moon landing mission that contradict the claim. Therefore, we have marked the claim as false.

Article from Logically journal

Pictured: Astronaut Buzz Aldrin