334 a
Neil Armstrong

First photograph of a man standing on the surface of another world

Apollo 11, July 16-24, 1969, 110:03:00 GET

Vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based Kodak paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), flush-mounted on original card [NASA AS11-40-5872]

334 b
Taken by the TV camera mounted by Neil Armstrong on the lunar surface

Neil Armstrong taking the first photograph of Buzz Aldrin on the lunar surface

Apollo 11, July 16-24, 1969, 110:03:00 GET

Vintage gelatin silver print on fiber-based paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), NASA HQ caption on the verso
20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in)

334 a
Thomas, p. 196-97, Arnold, plate 17.

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Lot Essay

334 a
As requested per his checklist, Armstrong took this historic first photograph of Aldrin on the lunar surface in order to document the Solar Wind Experiment.

“Many of the pictures taken by Armstrong will always be considered as classics of lunar surface photography. Here, rim-lit by the Sun to the left, Aldrin unfurls the aluminium sheet of the Solar Wind Experiment; behind him is the Lunar Module.
Footprints can be seen in the foreground, also the linear tracks which were formed by the cable of the lunar surface TV camera.
The shapes of light on the left were caused by the Sun shining almost directly into the camera lens” (Arnold, plate 17).

“Stepping out of the LM’s shadow was a shock. One moment I was in total darkness, the next in the Sun’s hot floodlight. From the ladder I had seen all the sunlit moonscape beyond our shadow but with no atmosphere, there was absolutely no refracted light around me. I stuck my hand out past the shadow’s edge into the Sun, and it was like punching through a barrier into another dimension.”
Buzz Aldrin (from his 1973 book Return to Earth)

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Neil Armstrong oriented the TV camera so that viewers on Earth could see the astronauts working near the LM. He then moved closer to Aldrin to photograph the deployment of the Solar Wind Experiment.

110:02:26 McCandless: For a final orientation, we’d like it (the TV camera) to come left about 5 degrees. Over. (Pause) Now back to the right about half as much.
110:02:42 Armstrong: Okay. (Pause) [Neil moves away from the TV toward the LM.]
110:02:53 McCandless: Okay. That looks good there, Neil.
110:03:00 Armstrong: Okay.