USAF Lunar Reference Mosaic

Reduced-sized photo-mosaic map of the moon compiled in 1962 and published by the United States Air Force Aeronautical Chart and Informational Service. This is the 3rd edition of this smaller Lunar Earthside Mosaic (LEM-1A), published in 1967. A panel of text in the left margin provides statistics about the moon and information about the techniques used to create this photo-mosaic map.

At the very beginnings of the Space Race, the US Air Force and NASA realized that to plan a successful route to the moon, they required a highly detailed map. The U.S. Air Force Aeronautical Chart and Information Center (ACIC) and the U.S. Army began to compile photographs and telescopic data of the moon from observatories such as Lick, McDonald, Mt. Wilson (U. S.) and Pic du Midi (France), as well as employing talented professional terrestrial cartographers, selenographers and editors such as British astronomer Ewen A. Whitaker (1922-2016) and Dutch astronomer and scientist Dr. Gerard P. Kuiper (1905-1973).

It was an ambitious project that resulted in 281 of the best lunar photographs and over 1,200 telescope observations being collected and carefully stitched together to create a magnificent wall map of the Moon almost 5ft wide and 4ft tall. This is the smallest of the reduced-size editions of that original Lunar Earthside Mosaic and is, surprisingly, one of the hardest to find on the market.

Laid down on archival linen. Printed colour.