324 a
Neil Armstrong

Panoramic sequence of the Sea of Tranquillity seen from the LM window after landing

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

Four 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 “AS11-39-5756, AS11-39-5757, AS11-39-5758, AS11-39-5759” in margin

324 b
Buzz Aldrin

Panoramic sequence of the lunar horizon over Eagle’s shadow

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), numbered “AS11-39-5779, AS11-39-5780, AS11-39-5786” in margin
20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in)

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Lot Essay

324 a
This panoramic sequence from the B&W magazine 39/Q was taken with the Hasselblad EVA camera and its 60mm (focal length) lens. It had a reseau plate, so images taken with it show a grid of crosses.

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

A LM thruster is visible at the left of the first image; a small hill is visible over the shadow of Eagle at the extreme right of the last image. Double Crater is well visible in the mid distance. The western half of Double Crater is about 10 m in diameter (first two images) and is overlaid by a younger, 12-m crater (last two images).

“Picture yourself in Armstrong’s shoes, as he surveys the lunar landscape just after landing. The view appears uninviting, forbidden, hostile and he wonders “What kind of day will it be?” It will be a day like all days on the surface of the Moon - a velvet black sky with a terrain of rocks, boulders, craters and dust in all shades of gray,” wrote Apollo 8 and 13 astronaut James Lovel (Chaikin, Space, introduction).

From the mission transcript after landing:

103:03:55 Armstrong: The area out the left-hand window is a relatively level plain cratered with a fairly large number of craters of the 5- to 50-foot variety; and some ridges (which are) small, 20, 30 feet high, I would guess; and literally thousands of little, 1- and 2-foot craters around the area. We see some angular blocks out several hundred feet in front of us that are probably two feet in size and have angular edges. There is a hill in view, just about on the ground track ahead of us. Difficult to estimate, but might be a half a mile or a mile.

324 b
Aldrin took these overlapping photographs from the B&W magazine 39/Q from his LMP window with the Hasselblad EVA camera equipped with a 60mm lens.

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

“I think distance judgment is not too good on first setting down. The tendency is to think that things are a good bit closer than they actually are. This says they (meaning the boulders) are probably a good bit larger than what we might have initially estimated”, said Buzz Aldrin (1969 Technical Debrief, from the ALSJ mission transcript at 104:03:18 GET).

“Several hundred feet to our right (north), there was a significant boulder field - an array of boulders, essentially, that had many boulders greater than 1 or 2 feet in size. We were never able to get into that area to look at those rocks in detail,” noted Neil Armstrong (1969 Technical Debrief, from the ALSJ mission transcript at 104:03:18 GET).