[Apollo 11] “Man walks on another world”: Buzz Aldrin walking near the...

[Apollo 11] “Man walks on another world”: Buzz Aldrin walking near the leg of the LM Eagle. Neil Armstrong, 16–24 July 1969. Printed 1969. Vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based Kodak paper [NASA image AS11–40-5902]. 25.4×20.3 cm (10×8 in), with NASA caption numbered “AS11–40-5902” and “A Kodak Paper“ watermarks on the verso, numbered ”NASA AS11–40-5902" in blue in top margin (NASA Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas).

Literature: LIFE, 11 August 1969 Time, 8 August 1969, p. 23; Moon: Man’s Greatest Adventure, Thomas, ed., pg. 196; Apollo Expeditions to the Moon (NASA SP-350), Cortright, ed., p. 202.

The most famous photograph illustrating Apollo 11’s moonwalk. Walking beyond the north strut of the LM Eagle at Tranquility Base, Buzz Aldrin is surrounded by a vacuum atmosphere in the one sixth gravity environment. In this silent world he can hear only the crackling of communications, the sounds of his life support system and the echo of his breathing in his helmet. The loneliness of space exploration is captured in this picture of Buzz Aldrin standing by Eagle’s foil wrapped footpad. But a tiny image of Armstrong taking the photograph can be seen in his reflective faceplate. (NASA SP-350, p. 202).

[NASA caption] Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot, walks on the surface of the moon near a leg of the Lunar Module during the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity (EVA). Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong, Apollo 11 commander, took this photograph with a 70mm lunar surface camera. The astronauts' bootprints are clearly visible in the foreground. While astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin descended in the Lunar Module (LM) “Eagle” to explore the Sea of Tranquility region of the moon, astronaut Michael Collins, command module pilot, remained with the Command and Service Modules (CSM) “Columbia” in lunar orbit.

Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong described their impressions as they walked on the surface of another world:

“I quickly discovered that I felt balanced comfortably upright only when I was tilted slightly forward. I also felt a bit disorientated – on the Earth when one looks at the horizon, it appears flat; on the Moon, so much smaller than the Earth and quite without high terrain, the horizon in all directions visibly curved away from us.” Buzz Aldrin (from his 1973 book Return to Earth).

“We felt very comfortable. It was, in fact, in our view both preferable to weightlessness and to the Earth’s gravity.” Neil Armstrong.

Condition Report:Very minor crease to top right corner, otherwise excellent condition.

Please notice: Supplementary material not included.

Category:Photos ▸ Vintage photographs