Space Exploration

[Apollo 11 Giantstep Presidential Goodwill Tour]

World Tour album with Itinerary and Astronaut Inscriptions

Lot Closed

July 18, 02:43 PM GMT

Estimate

8,000 - 12,000 USD

We may charge or debit your saved payment method subject to the terms set out in our Conditions of Business for Buyers.

Lot Details

Description

[Apollo 11 Giantstep Presidential Goodwill Tour]

The personal Apollo 11 World Tour vintage collection of NASA Senior Photographer Bill Taub, comprised of:

Original official detailed schedule of the Apollo Giantstep Presidential Goodwill tour across 24 countries in 38 days. Green cover with BILL TAUB tag, NASA's Senior Photographer. Measures 8½ x 11 inches, 172 pages with map, notes, recorded changes.
Original Official Itinerary for the tour, including pictures, 33 handwritten inscriptions and signatures from Apollo 11 astronauts, their wives, and various NASA personnel; passes, invitations, and menus from events across the tour.
three black binders, each measuring 12 x 14 inches, containing a total of 230 photographs from the World Tour, as well as various badges, orders, passes, invitations, and related documents.

20 percent of the world's population had just watched the Apollo 11 Moon landing and President Richard Nixon wisely requested that the Apollo 11 astronauts further disseminate the message emblazoned on the Apollo 11 plaque - "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon, July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind” - with a goodwill world tour. The Apollo 11 astronauts and their wives (and a team of NASA and State Department staff) undertook a journey across 6 continents covering 24 countries in 38 days, from late September to early November 1969, crossing the Equator 6 times and giving 22 press conferences. It is estimated that more than 100 million people saw Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins on their parade routes and in other venues.

The present material comes from the personal collection of Senior NASA photographer Bill Taub, who had been with NACA and then NASA from the early days of the Mercury Program to the end of Apollo. He was responsible for most of the official photographs. Taub served on Giantstep and captured all the key moments. According to his interview for the NASA JSC Oral History Project, he shot almost 200 rolls of film on the tour.