Buzz Aldrin

Portrait of Neil Armstrong back in the LM after the historic moonwalk

Apollo 11, July 16-24, 1969, 112:20:56 GET

Vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based Kodak paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with NASA MSC caption and “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the verso, numbered “NASA AS11-37-5528” in red in top margin
20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in)

Thomas, p. 209; Reynolds, p. 146.

Paris, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, La Lune: Du Voyage Réel aux Voyages Imaginaires, April-July 2019; exhibition catalogue, p. 25, no. 16, illustrated.

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Lot Essay

Aldrin took very few photographs of Armstrong on the lunar surface but this image of him back in the LM after the moonwalk is the first “helmet-free” photograph of a man on the Moon.

The members of the Apollo 11 crew conducted themselves with a cool-even laconic-professionalism throughout the mission, to the general despair of newspaper headline writers. Once the more difficult and novel aspects of the flight had been successfully completed, however, a change of mood became evident.
The photograph shows a tired and elated Armstrong smiling with satisfaction after regaining the cabin of the LM following his and Aldrin’s exploration of the lunar surface.

From the mission transcript before the liftoff from the Moon:

114:22:23 McCandless (Mission Control): We’d like to say from all of us down here in Houston and really from all of us in all the countries in the entire world, we think that you’ve done a magnificent job up there today. Over.
114:22:46 Armstrong: Thank you very much.
114:22:48 Aldrin: It’s been a long day.