U.S. astronaut Buzz Aldrin in 1966. (Photo : NASA)
A breathtaking collection of black and white and colored photos dating from 1946 until the 1960s that documented the Golden Age of Space Exploration will be auctioned off at Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions in London on February 26.
The marvelous collection from the analog era was assembled over decades by a dedicated collector and is expected to earn over US$700,000. Experts expect individual photos in the collection to fetch anywhere from $460 to over $15,000, according to The Washington Post.
The younger generation will find that the selfie isn't a 21st century invention. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second human to set foot on the Moon in 1969, snapped a selfie of himself taking a spacewalk in 1966. This photo is believed to be the first space selfie and could sell for over US$1,000.
But the photo that will probably receive much attention is the including the iconic "Earthrise" photo taken by Apollo 8's William Anders in December 1968. This photo, said Sara Wheeler, head of photographs at Bloomsbury Auctions, "changed man's relationship with the cosmos forever."
There's also a very rare picture taken by Aldrin showing his fellow astronaut, Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon, on the lunar surface. Most of the photos from the Apollo 11 landing were taken by Armstrong so there are very few of him on the Moon.
Bloomsbury Auctions said very few people have seen this photo of Armstrong, which has been rarely published.
The auction house sold a private collection of NASA photos in 2011 and was surprised by the range of people that bought them.
"They represent a golden age in the history of photography, when a few men went to the unknown to bring back awe-inspiring pictures," said Wheeler.
