[Apollo 11] The historic first lunar landing: lunar horizon at Tranquility Base...

[Apollo 11] The historic first lunar landing: lunar horizon at Tranquility Base from the LM Eagle Pilot window just after the historic landing. Buzz Aldrin, 16–24 July 1969. Printed 1969. Vintage chromogenic print on heavy fiber-based GAF paper [NASA image AS11–37-5457]. 25.4 × 20.3 cm (10×8 in), blank on the verso, numbered “NASA AS11–37-5457” in blue in top margin (NASA / United States Geological Survey, Flagstaff, Arizona).

This magnificent photograph of the lunar horizon at Tranquility Base from aldrin’s first panoramic sequence illustrates the arrival of the first humans on the surface of another world. A LM thruster is in the right foreground. It is a frame from a panoramic sequence of the landing site from color magazine 40/S taken by Buzz Aldrin looking west from his Pilot LM window immediately after the one captured by Neil Armstrong from his Commander LM window, and one of the first photographs taken from the surface of another world. The image was captured with the Hasselblad 500EL IVA camera and its 80mm (focal length) lens in order to briefly document the site and its immediately interesting features, so that the crew wouldn’t have been forced to leave with empty hands in case of a No Stay decision.

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had two Hasselblad cameras inside the LM. One Hasselblad 500EL camera for use in the cabin, called the IntraVehicular Camera (IVA). The camera body was black and not intended for use outside during the EVA. The IVA camera did not have a reseau plate, so images taken with it did not have a five-by-five grid of reseau crosses. The IVA camera had an 80mm (focal length) Zeiss lens. One camera for use outside on the lunar surface (Hasselblad 500EL Data Camera), called the ExtraVehicular Camera (EVA), which had a silver-colored finish to prevent overheating. It also had a reseau plate, so images taken with it did show a grid of crosses. The EVA camera had a wide-angle 60mm Zeiss-Biogon lens. The Apollo 11 crewmen also had three Kodak photographic magazines for use with the two cameras: two color magazines 37/R and 40/S; and one B&W magazine 39/S.

From the mission transcript just after landing:

102:56:02 Aldrin: We’ll get to the details of what’s around here (later), but it looks like a collection of just about every variety of shape, angularity, granularity, about every variety of rock you could find. The color is...Well, it varies pretty much depending on how you’re looking relative to the zero phase point. There doesn’t appear to be too much of a general color at all. However, it looks as though some of the rocks and boulders, of which there are quite a few in the near area... It looks as though they’re going to have some interesting colors to them. Over.

Condition Report:Excellent condition.

Category:Photos ▸ Vintage photographs