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Neil Armstrong

Near field panoramic sequence of the landing site seen from the LM window after landing

Apollo 11, July 16-24, 1969, 103:59:47 GET

Three unreleased photographs, USGS (United States Geological Survey) vintage gelatin silver “proof” prints on fiber-based paper, each 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), consecutively numbered “AS11-39-5737, AS11-39-5738, AS11-39-5739” in margin

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Neil Armstrong

Panoramic sequence of the lunar horizon over Double Crater seen from the LM after landing

Apollo 11, July 1969, 103:59:47 GET

Two unreleased photographs (originally shot on color film), USGS (United States Geological Survey) vintage gelatin silver “proof” prints on fiber-based paper, each 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), numbered “AS11-40-5847 and AS11-40-5848” in bottom margin
20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in)

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Lot Essay

323 a
While in the LM on the Moon, Armstrong and Aldrin had three photographic magazines: two color magazines 37/R and 40/S; and one B&W magazine 39/S.

Frames from magazine 39/Q were not released by NASA after the mission.

This extremely rare first panoramic sequence from B&W magazine 39/Q showing the interior of a crater located below Armstrong’s window named Double Crater and the surrounding area near the LM was taken with the Hasselblad IVA (IntraVehicular Activity) camera equipped with a 80mm lens.

“We were in a relatively smooth area covered with craters varying (in diameter) from up to perhaps 100 feet in the near vicinity down to less than a foot, with density inversely proportional to the size of the crater. The smaller they were, the more there were of them (in a given area). The ground mass was very fine silt, and there were a lot of rocks of all sizes, angularities, and types in the area. Our immediate area was relatively free of large rocks (which is why Armstrong landed in it),” said Neil Armstrong (1969 Technical Debrief, from the ALSJ mission transcript at 104:03:18 GET).

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These overlapping photographs were the only ones shot from the LM Eagle with the combination of the 60mm lens of the EVA Hasselblad and the color magazine 40/S (which was the only magazine used on the lunar surface) before the first surface exploration of another world. The western half of Double Crater below Armstrong’s window is in the foreground. The LM thruster is visible at the left of the first image.

From the mission transcript after landing:

102:55:16 Armstrong: Hey, Houston, that may have seemed like a very long final phase. The Auto targeting was taking us right into a football-field-sized crater, with a large number of big boulders and rocks for about one or two crater diameters around it, and it required us going in P66 and flying manually over the rock field to find a reasonably good area.
102:55:49 Duke (Mission Control): Roger. We copy. It was beautiful from here, Tranquility. Over.