Christie’s Presents Moon Shots: Space Photography 1950-1999

LONDON – Christie’s presents Moon Shots: Space photography 1950-1999, an online auction of iconic photographs of the early rocket launches to man’s first footsteps on the Lunar surface. The sale will be open for bidding from 4 to 18 May and comprises 327 photographs, documenting a wide-ranging view of the Golden Age of space exploration. Spanning the 1950s, with the launch of Atlas, to the late 1990s, with images capturing the beauty of Saturn’s rings, the collection captures an exciting panorama of one of the most important scientific stories in history.

Among the most evocative photographs are shots of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin setting foot on the moon for the first time, and the first untethered space flight. The sale is led by an image of Buzz Aldrin posing for a photograph beside the U.S. flag (estimate: £20,000 – 30,000), alongside Buzz Aldrin’s gold-plated visor reflecting the photographer and the LM Eagle (estimate: £15,000 – 25,000). Both photographs were taken by fellow astronaut, Neil Armstrong, on the lunar surface during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. The photographs are arguably some of the most recognisable photographs from space exploration, capturing Aldrin posed against the backdrop of a vast lunar landscape.