A Dream Made Visible

The exploration of outer space was once a shared dream, both deeply personal and profoundly collective. The photographs offered in this sale do more than record historical events: they embody the ambition, vision and ingenuity of the thousands of men and women who propelled humanity beyond the confines of our world. At the same time, they reveal moments of stillness and wonder — carefully framed views in which Earth, Moon and space become subjects of quiet contemplation as much as conquest.

For collectors drawn to the intersection of history, technology and art, these works offer a tangible connection to the Space Age — artifacts of wonder that bring the immensity of the cosmos into the intimacy of the home. Seen today, many of these images resonate as works of art in their own right, defined by balance, light, scale and an acute sensitivity to the sublime.

The Origins of Space Photography

The desire to photograph the heavens reaches back to the nineteenth century, but the true revolution came with the development of space rockets. For the first time, a camera could point downward and reveal the Earth from above — transforming our planet into a fragile, luminous form set against infinite darkness.

On 24 October 1946, a V-2 rocket was launched into space carrying a motion picture camera adapted by Clyde T Holliday and strapped to its body. From an altitude of approximately 65 miles, it returned the first grainy images of Earth taken from the edge of space — a remarkable beginning to a new photographic frontier. Though technically rudimentary, these early images possessed a raw, almost abstract quality, foreshadowing the powerful visual language that space photography would soon develop.

From this moment onward, space photography became increasingly systematic, intentional and, ultimately, profoundly artistic as well as scientific.

NASA and the Camera in Space

By the early 1960s, photography had become integral to every NASA mission. Embedded into mission planning, it served to document activities in orbit, record celestial and environmental phenomena, and capture spacecraft operations for scientific analysis and procedural review.

NASA’s position at the forefront of technology led to collaborations with companies such as Kodak, Hasselblad and Zeiss, equipping astronauts with state-of-the-art cameras and films specially adapted for the extreme conditions of space. Astronauts underwent extensive training to master the technical challenges posed by weightlessness, limited visibility and the hostile environment beyond Earth’s atmosphere.

The results were among the most extraordinary and visually striking images ever created — revealing the fragile beauty of our planet against the vast, silent expanse of the universe.

Vintage Prints and a Finite Legacy

It is important to remember that during the 1960s and 1970s, photography was entirely analogue. NASA maintained specialist photographic departments responsible for processing, analysing and publishing mission imagery.

After each mission, NASA’s Public Affairs Office released selected prints for scientific circulation and media publication, igniting global awe and shaping our collective memory of space exploration. Printed and reprinted across the world’s major newspapers and magazines, these photographs became powerful tools not only of documentation, but also of public inspiration — images that altered how humanity saw itself and its place in the cosmos.

Yet many photographs were never published and remained unseen outside the agency, used only by engineers and astronauts to analyse missions and plan the next steps into space. Scarcely printed and never produced as signed or editioned works of art, these images were created as scientific and communication tools, often vulnerable to time, neglect and disappearance.

As a result, the number of truly vintage prints from this era is finite. Each surviving example carries not only historical importance, but also a rare aesthetic and collectible significance — a singular moment where art, science and exploration converge.

Collecting the Dream

To the Moon: Collecting the Dream celebrates a pivotal chapter in human history — when technology, courage and imagination converged to take us beyond Earth for the first time. These photographs are more than records of exploration: they are enduring visual meditations on scale, beauty and human aspiration.

Dreweatts is delighted to offer this remarkable selection of vintage space photography, presenting collectors with a rare chance to acquire authentic pieces of the Space Age — images that continue to inspire wonder, curiosity and awe, both as historical documents and as extraordinary works of art.

Auction Highlights

Lot 15: Earthrise by Lunar Orbiter. Taken on the 23rd August 1966, this is the first photograph of Earth taken from the Moon's orbit.

Between 1966 and 1975, NASA succeeded in photographing and mapping 99% of the Moon’s surface using five uncrewed spacecraft known as the Lunar Orbiters. Delivering these spacecraft to lunar orbit was itself a triumph of engineering, yet the methods used to capture the images and transmit them back to Earth represented an almost unimaginable technological achievement. The results were nothing short of spectacular, revealing stark, dramatic, and unexpectedly beautiful lunar landscapes.

Lot 8: Gemini 4 Ed White performing the first U.S. spacewalk.

A highlight from the auction is Lot 8, this vintage chromogenic print of Ed White as he performs the first American spacewalk, shown here over Hawaii. It was taken during the Gemini 4 mission on 3 June 1965.

A multiple milestone in space photography, this photograph is both the first still photograph of a human in space and the first taken by another human (until this point all released images of astronauts were taken by television or monitoring cameras).This is the first image in the series of photographs of Ed White's spacewalk taken by James McDivitt. Several subsequent photographs of Ed White during the first US spacewalk are offered in the sale too.

Lot 21: Apollo 8 The first photograph of the Earth taken by a human from beyond the Earth's orbit.

From the Apollo 8 mission we have the first photograph of the Earth taken by a human from beyond the Earth's orbit (Lot 121). It was taken by William Anders on 21 December 1968 at 13:06 GMT and shows Earth's disc as seen by the Apollo 7 crew during the trans-lunar coast at a distance of about 27,000 miles.

“We came all this way to explore the moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth” - William Anders

Featured on the cover of Life Magazine on January 10, 1969, this image would become one the 20th century's most famous photographs, inspiring people worldwide to consider Earth's place in the cosmos.

Lot 4: Apollo 8 'Earthrise'.

In this photograph Earth can be seen rising above the lunar horizon. The photograph was captured by William Anders on the morning of 24 December 1968. The most celebrated view of planet Earth, this is the first colour photograph of Earthrise taken by humans. This first Earthrise ever seen by humans was observed by the crew of Apollo 8 during the fourth orbit of the Moon.

Lot 6: Apollo 8 Near-full Moon as witnessed by the Apollo 8 crew during homebound journey.

Lot 6 is a stunning vintage print of a near-full moon, the first human-taken image the Moon from a previously inaccessible perspective. This view was witnessed by the Apollo 8 crew during their homebound journey after the trans-earth injection. The homeward journey provided the crew with an opportunity to see the Moon in its full breath-taking glory and photograph it to capture sights never visible to terrestrial viewers.

Lot 1: Apollo 17 Last lift off to the Moon.

Taken on 7 December 1972, here we have a dramatic image of the last lift off to the Moon. It shows the Apollo 17/Saturn V launch from Pad A, Complex 39 at the Kennedy Space Centre. Apollo 17 was the only night-time lift off of the Saturn V vehicle - it departed at 12.33 am EST.

Lot 29: Apollo 13 astronauts battle for survival: the critical last-minute fix in Aquarius.

Extremely rare image depicting the desperate efforts to prevente carbon dioxide poisoning on the Lunar Module which, instead of taking the astronauts to the Moon, become a lifeboat for the three men drifting in outerspace after an explosion in the oxygen tank.

Lot 3: [Apollo 11] 'One Giant Leap For Mankind': The Astronaut Bootprint On The Moon.

Captured moments after humanity's first steps on another world, this iconic photograph became a visual emblem of exploration itself-an unmistakable trace of human presence beyond Earth, preserved unchanged on the Moon's surface for millions of years.

Lot 5: Apollo 11 Rare Large Presentation Print Depicting Buzz Aldrin Beside the First Us Flag on the Moon.

A rare detail makes this photograph even more extraordinary: Aldrin's face is visible through his helmet visor. Typically, the gold-plated visor obscures an astronaut's features, but the sunlight here strikes at just the right angle, revealing his face. This makes it one of the very few Apollo lunar surface photographs where an astronaut's face can be seen.

Auction Details

Thursday 12 March 2026, 12pm GMT
Dreweatts, Donnington Priory, Newbury, Berkshire RG14 2JE

Bidding is available in person at our salerooms, online, by telephone or you can leave commission (absentee) bids.

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Viewing:
Dreweatts Newbury: Donnington Priory, Newbury, Berkshire RG14 2JE

Saturday 7 March: 10am-3pm
Sunday 8 March: 10am-3pm
Monday 9 March: 10am-4pm
Tuesday 10 March: 10am-4pm
Wednesday 11 March: 10am-4pm

Further Information: 
General enquiries: + 44 (0) 1635 553 553 | ahanrahan@dreweatts.com

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