Oceanus Procellarum, Ocean of Storms with Alan Bean (140x60)Apollo 12 Magazine 46/Y - NASA photographs 1969

Oceanus Procellarum, Ocean of Storms with Alan Bean (80x60)Apollo 12 Magazine 46/Y - NASA photographs 1969

Fra Mauro formation, MET (Modular Equipment Transporter) (90x60)Apollo 14 Magazine 64/LL - NASA photographs 1971

Fra Mauro formation, LM and wheel tracks of the MET (70x60)Apollo 14 Magazine 67/JJ - NASA photographs 1971

Fra Mauro formation, MET (Modular Equipment Transporter) (90x60)Apollo 14 Magazine 68/MM - NASA photographs 1971

Apennine Mountains, Lunar Module and LRV (Lunar Roving Vehicle) (145x60)Apollo 15 Magazine 82/SS - NASA photographs 1971

Apennine Mountains, wheel tracks of the LRV (Lunar Roving Vehicle) (140x60)Apollo 15 Magazine 87/KK - NASA photographs 1971

Hadley Mount, astronaut with Hasselblad medium format film camera (100x60)Apollo 15 magazine 85/LL - NASA photographs 1971

Swann Hills, wheel tracks of the LRV (Lunar Roving Vehicle) (180x60)Apollo 15 Magazine 88/TT - NASA photographs 1971

Hadley Mount, astronaut with Hasselblad medium format film camera (130x60)Apollo 15 magazine 85/LL - NASA photographs 1971

Descartes crater, LRV (Lunar Roving Vehicle) and the American flag (100x60)Apollo 16 Magazine 107/C - NASA photographs 1972

Descartes Mountains, taking soil samples protected from light (100x60)Apollo 16 Magazine 106/K - NASA photographs 1972

Descartes crater, LRV (Lunar Roving Vehicle) (100x60)Apollo 16 Magazine 116/E - NASA photographs 1972

Descartes Mountains, LRV (Lunar Roving Vehicle) (130x60)Apollo 16 Magazine 107/C - NASA photographs 1972

Taurus Mountains, LACE (Lunar Atmospheric Composition Experiment) (75x60)Apollo 17 Magazine 145/D & 134/B - NASA photographs 1972

Taurus Mountains with an astronaut (110x60)Apollo 17 Magazine 138/L - NASA photographs1972

Taurus-Littrow Valley, Shorty crater (105x60)Apollo 17 Magazine 147/C - NASA photographs 1972

Taurus Mountains, astronaut and gnomon (100x60)Apollo 17 Magazine 137/C - NASA photographs 1972

Taurus Mountains and astronaut with flare (100x60)Apollo 17 Magazine 137/C & 138/L - NASA photographs1972

Taurus Mountains, Tracy’s rock with Harrison H. Schmitt (140x06)Apollo 17 Magazine 140/E - NASA photographs 1972

Taurus Mountains, LRV and astronaut (175x60)Apollo 17 Magazine 141/E & 141/L - NASA photographs 1972

Taurus Mountains with LRV and astronaut (110x60)Apollo 17 Magazine 142/M - NASA photographs 1972

Taurus-Littrow Valley, LRV (Lunar Roving Vehicle) (110x60)Apollo 17 Magazine 146/F - NASA photographs 1972

Taurus-Littrow Valley, LRV and footprints in skipping mode (100x60)Apollo 17 Magazine 146/F - NASA photographs 1972

Taurus-Littrow Valley, ALSEP (Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package) (120x60)Apollo 17 Magazine 147/A - NASA photographs 1972

Taurus-Littrow Valley, ALSEP (Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package) (150x60)Apollo 17 Magazine 147/A & 134/B - NASA photographs 1972

Taurus-Littrow Valley, astronaut’s footprints (115x60)Apollo 17 Magazine 146/F - NASA photographs 1972

UNSEEN APOLLO

1961 to 1972, NASA’s Apollo program mobilized 400,000 people and sent 27 men to travel around the Moon. 6 missions succeeded in landing there, and 12 men set foot on its surface. They carried out a number of scientific experiments and brought back 382 kg of rock. From Apollo 4 to Apollo 17, astronauts were also equipped with medium-format Hasselblad cameras, and bring back to Earth 145 film rolls containing 19,788 shots. During the 6 missions that land on the Moon, they take 13,887 pictures.
The initial aim of these photographs, put online and made freely available by NASA, was mainly scientific and political. UNSEEN APOLLO shows images that are more subjective or bear traces of the accidents inherent to the film medium, (colors are the original ones) but which together, reveal a beauty beyond the known reality.
For astronauts, doubt and hesitation were not allowed - Failure is not an option - and there was little room during their missions for dreams and contemplation.
In UNSEEN APOLLO, light becomes subject. Wonder is permitted, being lost is allowed; to disappear is possible.

NASA photographs 1969-1972. Hasselblad film scans by Johnson Space Center, circa 2005
Editing, levels-adjusted, creation panoramas by Jef Bonifacino, Residence 1+2 Factory 2023
Link to the movie

UNSEEN APOLLO

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