Taken by the automatic Fairchild metric camera mounted on the SIM bay of the Command Module and operated by Ken Mattingly

The Moon after transEarth injection

Apollo 16, April 16-27, 1972

Large-format presentation vintage gelatin silver print on textured fiber-based paper, 50.5 x 40.5cm (20 x 16in), with “Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation Space and Defense Systems” in bottom margin [NASA AS16-M-3022] (NASA / Fairchild)

This amazing ‘whole Moon’ photograph taken with the 3-inch lens is centered on craters Hertz and Moiseev (latitude / longitude: 13.5° N / 103.5° E).
50.5 x 40.5cm (20 x 16in)

Arnold, plate 39; Light, plate 109; NASA SP-315, frontispiece.

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Lot Essay

“A view of the Moon never seen before the Space Age, captured at about 1,000 miles as the astronauts began their trip back to Earth. The image is centered on the boundary between the lunar nearside and the Moon’s hidden face. Three lunar seas are visible as dark patches, clockwise from upper left: the Sea of Crises, the Border Sea, and Smyth’s Sea. At lower right are the highlands of the lunar farside” (Light, plate 109).

“The last three Apollo missions carried large-format high resolution cameras which enabled the surface of the Moon to be photographed with a precision never before attempted. To those used to the best that Earthbound telescopes can produce through the distortions of our atmosphere, results like this image are a revelation. Craters of very small size can be seen, and this is particularly valuable as much of this image is of the far side of the Moon, which never faces Earth” (Arnold, plate 39).

From the mission transcript as the spacecraft was about 1,000 miles away from the Moon:

200:44:09 Young: Houston, we now have, looking out the center hatch window, the whole - the - the Moon fills the whole window. I can see from horizon to horizon by just being about four inches from the center hatch window. What a spectacular view.
200:44:23 Peterson (Mission Control): Roger.
200:44:28 Young: That’s from horizon to horizon along the equator. And we are really climbing away from the planet. You can just see it getting smaller by the second.
200:44:39 Peterson: You’re really moving out, huh? [...]
200:44 57 Mattingly: Almost as fast as John was driving that Rover yesterday.
200:44:58 Peterson: Roger.
200:48:15 Duke: Pete, out of Window 5, I can already see the whole sphere.
200:48:23 Peterson: Roger.
200:50:15 Mattingly: I just can’t get these new guys away from the windows.
200:50:16 Peterson: Roger.
200:50:23 Young: That view is just beautiful.