Signed crew photograph of Apollo 12

[NASA]. [Apollo 12 Crew]. NASA S-69-38852.

€ 1,500.00

An official NASA "red number" photograph of the prime crew of Apollo 12, the second Moon mission to land on the lunar surface, signed by the three astronauts set to make the journey: Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr. (1930-99), Richard "Dick" Francis Gordon Jr. (1929-2017), and Alan "Al" LaVern Bean (1932-2018).

Mission Commander Pete Conrad and LM Pilot Alan Bean would be the third and fourth human beings to walk on the Moon (Gordon, as Command Module Pilot, was tasked with orbiting the Moon above, awaiting their return).

Unlike the first Moon landing, Apollo 12 faced less public and internal deadline pressure. Kennedy's goal to land a man on the Moon by the end of 1969 had been achieved; the famous "One small step for man" had finally been said. When Pete Conrad (a short man, even for an astronaut) leaped from the LM's ladder to the surface of the Moon, his first words were: "Whoopie! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but that's a long one for me".

Pete, Dick, and Al were closer than most crew members in Apollo missions; they had three matching gold Corvettes they liked to drag race along the near-empty streets of Kennedy Space Center. On the Moon, Bean and Conrad smuggled along a timer for their camera without informing NASA, hoping to take a photograph standing together on the lonely lunar surface, something Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong had never been able to do (astronauts generally took photos 'together' by photographing themselves in the reflection of their compatriot's spacesuit visor). However, Bean could not find where he had hidden the timer among their rock samples fast enough, and they had to abandon the scheme. Decades later, Bean - also an accomplished artist - painted himself, Conrad, and Gordon together on the Moon instead. Not the first Moon mission crew, but perhaps the most fun.

Hint of marginal wear, remarkably well-preserved, with little of the usual fading.