The LM Intrepid heading for the Ocean of Storms, EVA 1, 14-24 November 1969

Vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based paper, printed 1969, numbered "NASA AS12-51-7510" (NASA MSC) in red in top margin, with "A KODAK PAPER" watermark on verso, 25,4 x 20,3 cm

This great photograph was taken looking west over the 24-km Crater Lalande (right of center, 4.4°S 8.6°W) and the Sea of islands.

The LM Intrepid appears to be close to the surface, even though it is some 60 nautical miles high. This was one of Gordon’s last views of the LM as he began his one and a half day of solo flight around the Moon. (NASA SP-235)

“I made a small burn with the Command Module which allowed for separation from the LM, so we wouldn’t collide later on. As I was drifting away, I grabbed the Hasselblad and took some pictures out the window. It was simply a matter of pointing the nose of the spacecraft at the Lunar Module.”
Richard Gordon (Schick and Van Haaften, p. 80)

Literature:
Full Moon, Light, plate 43 (variant); Voices from the Moon, Chaikin, p. 50 (variant); The View from Space: American Astronaut Photography 1962-1972, Schick and Van Haaften, p. 80 (variant); Apollo 12 Preliminary Science Report (NASA SP-235), p.16 (variant); Apollo: Through the Eyes of the Astronauts, Jacobs, ed., p. 10 (variant).