[imagesource: James McDivitt/Christie’s]

Space travel, and the recording thereof, is so sophisticated today that we could ride along with astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, from liftoff and all the way to the International Space Station, before watching them dock from both inside and outside the SpaceX Crew Dragon.

They, in turn, took some great pictures of Joburg, Cape Town, and Pretoria, from space, that you should really check out.

Then there’s the Hubble Space Telescope, which since 1990 has been sending back iconic images of the universe, including one of two galaxies merging.

The quality and quantities of these shots are a recent thing.

Back in the day, during those first few years of space exploration, images were captured when photography was still analogue and required light-sensitive chemistry, film, and photographic papers.

A stunning 2 400 of these rare images are now up for sale in an online auction hosted by Christie’s.

Per CNN, the press release for the auction states that the photos span a number of historic missions, from the Mercury and Gemini spaceflight programs to the Apollo moon missions.

Some of them are now iconic, like the ‘Blue Marble’ (below) which was taken by the crew of the Apollo 17, and is the first fully illuminated photo of Earth taken by a human in space.

Others up for grabs were never released by NASA at the time that they were taken.

The most expensive item on offer is the only photo showing Armstrong on the Moon, taken by Aldrin during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. Its estimated to be worth between £30,000 and £50,000 according to the auction house.

Other high-value images include “Blue Marble,” which is estimated to sell for up to £25,000 ($31,500), and a photo of the first “Earthrise” seen by humans in space, dated 1968 and worth up to £30,000 ($37,800).

For decades, the unreleased photos were tucked away in the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas, and could only be accessed by researchers.

The items were assembled over the course of 15 years by a collector, Victor Martin-Malburet,  and have been exhibited all over the world.

“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,” Martin-Malburet is quoted as saying in the release.

“The early pioneers of Mercury and Gemini were given as a canvas space and the Earth; the Apollo astronauts an alien world.”

The online sale, named ‘Voyage To Another World: The Victor Martin-Malburet Photograph Collection’, runs through to November 19, and is worth checking out just to scroll through the incredible images up for grabs.

[source:cnn]