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Buzz Aldrin selfie?! Check out rare, vintage NASA photos

Lindsay Deutsch
USA TODAY Network
James McDivitt on the first US Spacewalk - Ed White’s EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity), Gemini 4, 3 June 1965.

An out-of-this-world collection of more than 600 vintage, rare NASA photos — including the very first photograph ever captured from space — goes up for auction Feb. 26 in London.

The prints, from a private collection, show NASA's groundbreaking astronauts in scenes in space and on the moon. Rare photos include what's purported to be the only clear photograph of Neil Armstrong on the moon from July 20, 1969, and photos taken by astronaut John Glenn, the first man to bring a camera into space.

Perhaps most exciting is the first "selfie" from space, taken in 1966 by Buzz Aldrin.

"These photographs are more than merely documentary, many are simply sublime," said Sarah Wheeler, the head of photographs for Bloomsbury Auctions, in a statement. "They represent a golden age in the history of photography as well, when a few men went to the unknown to bring back awe-inspiring pictures. The view of the first Earthrise over the lunar horizon changed Man's relationship with the cosmos forever."

The vintage photo prints are currently on exhibition at London's Mallett Antiques. They're expected to auction for between 300 and 10,000 British pounds each. According to The New York Times, the collection is expected to garner between $750,000 and $1 million.

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