NEW BRAUNFELS, TX.- Exploring the Cosmos: An Important Sale of Vintage NASA Photography, much of it signed by the heroic astronauts who made history venturing into outer space, is now live on www.iGavelAuctions.com. The auction is presented by Elder’s Antiques, based in Venice, Florida.

Among the rare images on sale are:

• Apollo 11 Earthrise over the Lunar Surface. July 20, 1969. Signed by Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (Estimate $6,000-8,000)

• Apollo 11 Astronaut Edwin Aldrin descends Lunar Module to Walk on the Moon, July 20, 1969 (Estimate $6,000-10,000)

• Lunar Surveyor Mosaic. Day 019, Survey M. Sectors 1 and 2 (Estimate $6,000-9,000)

Space photography began as an afterthought. John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962, took with him a camera he bought at a local drugstore and retrofitted so that he could better control it in a spacesuit. That modification was the birth of a new genre of photography that would bring images of space to Earth for the first time.

When space photography was first pioneered, it was not without technological and political complications. With the Cold War between the United States and Russia as the catalyst for the Space Race, many feared that taking photographs in space would be construed as acts of espionage. Fortunately, the espionage responsibilities fell to satellites as their technology and capabilities were vastly superior to their predecessor, the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft; as a result space photography was relegated to use by lunar probes to help plan the Apollo 11 missions. Over 100,000 photographs later Apollo 11’s landing sites had been mapped and selected for exploration by man.

Space photography advanced enough that by the time Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the Moon, the mission was carrying two 16mm Maurer motion picture film cameras, a black and white TV camera, a color television camera, a Kodak stereo close up camera, and three Hasselblad 500EL cameras. What was previously an afterthought became a vital part of scientific data collection.

The Hasselblad camera’s design was specifically modified to make them scientific instruments. They had a register class that was engraved with grid markings. These markings, with intersections calibrated to a tolerance of .002mm made it possible to calculate distance and height in the photographs. The cameras were even painted silver to help balance the internal temperatures in preparation for any extreme temperatures that the astronauts might face. The collaboration between NASA and Hasselblad sealed space photography as an integral component of the scientific processes for this and all future generations of astronauts. The photographs from this time are historical documents as well as iconic images.

More than 100 historical photographs of the space race are on sale now through October 5th on iGavelAuctions.com