the first photo from space? courtesy of NASA
Toronto. Hey! You photo collectors out there. I know space shots are too new for your consideration at this time. BUT think ahead and start looking for photos taken beyond earth.
In 2022, an American auction house, Rago Wright LLC in Chicago, sold an 8×10 photographic print of what is arguably the first extraterrestrial photograph (verified by NASA) for $3,750.00 US. It was taken aboard the Friendship 7 by John Glenn using an Ansco Autoset and Kodak colour negative film.
The write-up on the Rago Wright web site is: “One of the first and extremely rare photographs captured by John Glenn in full color from Friendship 7, the first manned American spacecraft to orbit the Earth.
“John Glenn was the first human being to carry a still camera into space. The suborbital missions of Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom prepared the way for the first orbital flight. On 20 February 1962 John Glenn became the first American to circle the Earth making three orbits in his Friendship 7 Mercury spacecraft. He also became the first human being to photograph Earth from space using a hand-held 35mm Ansco Autoset (modified Minolta) camera and Eastman Color Negative Film 5250.
“The malfunction of his spacecraft’s automatic control system during the second orbit limited Glenn’s opportunities to make use of his camera. Nevertheless, he did manage to document his time in space and snapped this view looking northwest of the cloud-covered Atlantic Ocean on the third orbit of Friendship 7. Over the Atlantic on the third orbit, Glenn photographed an overcast region to the northwest and patterns of scattered clouds in the foreground.”
My thanks to George Dunbar. George read an article in the Nov 29/30 weekend NY Times (print edition) about this and other rare photos. Unfortunately on line, the NY Times uses a pay wall so a subscription is necessary before even a single article can be read.
