Article No.: 2003
An exceptional and highly desirable complete matching set of all twelve Apollo astronauts who walked on the Moon, represented by their original NASA-issued 8 x 10 inch White Space Suit portrait lithographs.
The set comprises the complete roster of lunar surface explorers from Apollo 11 through Apollo 17:
Apollo 11: Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin
Apollo 12: Charles “Pete” Conrad and Alan Bean
Apollo 14: Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell
Apollo 15: David Scott and James Irwin
Apollo 16: John Young and Charles Duke
Apollo 17: Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt
All twelve portraits are vintage NASA-printed lithographs, produced during the original era of the Apollo program. They are not modern reprints, later reproductions, or digital copies.
Among the most recognizable photographic images produced by NASA during the Apollo era are the formal portraits of the astronauts wearing the white A7L lunar spacesuit configuration. These images were created not merely as publicity photographs, but as part of NASA’s official visual record of the men selected to undertake the most ambitious exploration program of the twentieth century.
The white suit portraits have since become among the most important and collectible NASA astronaut images, combining the immediacy of the individual astronaut with the unmistakable visual language of Apollo: pressure suit, communication cap, mission insignia, and the equipment that would carry human beings onto another world.
Complete sets are particularly compelling because they bring together, in one unified collection, every man who set foot on the lunar surface between 1969 and 1972.
On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first human being to step onto the Moon, followed shortly thereafter by Buzz Aldrin. Over the next three years, ten additional astronauts would follow them.
The Apollo lunar landing missions represented the culmination of an unprecedented scientific, technological, and geopolitical undertaking. Each successive expedition expanded the scope of lunar exploration—from the first tentative steps of Apollo 11 to the increasingly complex geological traverses of Apollo 15, 16, and 17.
The twelve men represented in this set remain the only human beings in history to have walked upon another celestial body.
Their collective achievements encompass some of the most celebrated moments in the history of exploration: Armstrong’s first step, Conrad’s exuberant arrival on the lunar surface, Shepard’s famous lunar golf shots, Scott’s demonstration of Galileo’s falling-body experiment, Young and Duke’s exploration of the Descartes Highlands, and Cernan and Schmitt’s final expedition into the Taurus-Littrow Valley.
When Eugene Cernan climbed back aboard the Lunar Module Challenger in December 1972, he became the last human to leave footprints on the Moon.
Individually, original NASA White Space Suit portraits are among the most sought-after portrait lithographs of the Apollo program. Certain astronauts are notably more difficult to obtain than others, with the James Irwin White Space Suit portrait generally regarded as one of the scarcer and most desirable examples in the series.
The difficulty of assembling all twelve original examples should not be underestimated. Over more than half a century, many surviving lithographs have been separated, damaged, inscribed, mounted, or lost entirely. Complete groups containing all twelve moonwalkers in consistently high condition are therefore considerably more challenging to assemble than individual portraits.
This collection offers the unusual opportunity to acquire the entire fraternity of lunar explorers in a single, coherent vintage NASA portrait set.
All twelve pieces are original vintage NASA-issued lithographs.
Format: approximately 8 x 10 inches each
Type: Official NASA portrait lithographs
Period: Apollo era
Subjects: All twelve astronauts who walked on the Moon
Condition: Ranging from excellent to mint
Reproductions: None – all examples are original vintage NASA printings
Few groups of NASA portrait photography encapsulate the Apollo era as completely as this set.
Taken individually, each image represents one of the men selected to carry humanity beyond Earth. Taken together, the twelve portraits form a visual pantheon of lunar exploration—the complete group of human beings who, during six extraordinary missions, walked upon the surface of the Moon.
A rare opportunity to acquire a complete vintage NASA portrait archive of all twelve Apollo moonwalkers—one of the most iconic and historically significant astronaut portrait collections of the Space Age.