Harrison Schmitt, the Earth and the US flag, EVA 1, 7-19 December 1972

Vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based paper, printed 1972, numbered "NASA AS17-134-20384" (NASA MSC) in red in top margin, with "A KODAK PAPER" watermark on verso, 25,4 x 20,3 cm

An exceptional photograph of a human on lunar surface with his home planet in the background.

Harrison Schmitt stands at Taurus Littrow Base next to the American flag with the reflection of his photographer and the flag in his gold plated visor. The flag points toward the fragile image of the Earth, visible against the blackness of space. The South Massif is in the background.

“One of the great photos ever to come out of the space program.”
Chief of photography Richard “Dick” Underwood (NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History)

“I captured the Earth, the Moon, the man, and the country all in one. I’m proud of this picture.”
Eugene Cernan (Schick and Van Haaften, p. 65)

From the mission transcript (photograph taken at T+118:25:54 after launch):
118:25:37 Cernan: Well, I want to get something here.
118:25:46 Schmitt: What’s that?
118:25:47 Cernan: I want to get the Earth.
118:25:49 Schmitt: Okay. Let me get over here.
118:25:51 Cernan: Get around on that side.
118:25:54 Schmitt: I don’t think it’s going...You’re a little close, maybe, to have them both in focus. That might do it.

Literature:
National Geographic, December 1973, ppg. 330-331; TIME, 8 January 1973, pg. 39; Space: A History of Space Exploration in Photographs, Chaikin, ppg. 132-133; The View from Space: American Astronaut Photography, 1962–1972, Schick and Van Haaften, pg. 65; Spacecam: Photographing the Final Frontier from Apollo to Hubble, Hope, pg. 35; Apollo: The Epic Journey to the Moon, Reynolds, ppg. 258-259.