Posted on 07/19/2009 2:27:22 PM PDT by Steelfish
Never-before seen photo shows Neil Armstrong's face as he first walks across the moon
19th July 2009
An amazing new photograph showing Neil Armstrong's face through his space suit visor has come to light.
[Pics in URL]
The image was shot by the movie camera mounted on the lunar lander famously called 'Eagle', but the frame lasts for only a fleeting moment. It shows Armstrong's face in clear view as he walks across the lunar surface.
Face first: Neil Armstrong has been presented with a copy of the picture He was the first man to walk on the moon, taking that one giant leap for mankind - yet most of the famous shots are of his fellow astronaut Buzz Aldrin, as it was Armstrong who manned the stills camera.
Spacecraft Films, an Ohio-based specialist in historical space footage, has transferred the footage into high definition format and captured the split-second scene as a still image, now released for the first time in a new book, Voices from the Moon, by author Andrew Chaikin.
'This is the first time that the public are seeing it,' said Chaikin, revealing that even Armstrong - despite his modest ways - was quietly impressed to receive one of the new prints of himself as a souvenir.
'All the iconic pictures from the moon are of Buzz...there really hasn't been one of Neil. I gave him a copy and he seemed pleased to have it.'
The moment was captured as Armstrong gathered samples of moon rocks during his 21-hour visit to the lunar surface exactly 40 years ago, on July 20, 1969.
'Armstrong raised his outer visor, the gold reflective visor that normally obscures an astronaut's face,' explained Mr Chaikin.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Thanks for the pic post DCP- that was fast.
Very cool...
I've seen a lot of Buzz and the other astronauts in interviews this weekend but not Neal...
I wonder if he will come out for the 40th?
Supposedly Armstrong will appear Monday evening at Smithsonian I think, but not any of the other celebrations. He has grown more and more publicity shy lately.
Neil has assiduoualy avoided fame sine he came home from the moon. don’t know whether he did us a favor or not. He did, after all, make the most historic footrprint in history. He wasn’t ordered to do it. I think he owes us more than he’s given us.
Does`t look like he has his Hasselblad there
Wanted one of those bad boys back then
Me too! I never had the funds to go medium format, and stuck with my Canon A-1.
I know, huh?
Is he wearing glasses?
Reminds me of the Onion story about walking on the moon that had me in tears.
There have been rumors it wasn’t Neil Armstrong who returned from the moon- at least, not the same Neil Armstrong who left the Earth several days earlier.
I’d doubt it very much.
Perfect vision was one of the prerequisites needed to be met to be a pilot, let alone an astronaut.
No...he saw the alien ships ringing the crater ridges on the dark side of the moon.
It’s either that, or he’s got a guilty conscience about something.
I love conspiracy theories, don’t you??
I don't know that he necessarily owes us, but it would have been good to hear from him from time to time.
I think the last time I remember seeing him was a photo essay in Life back in the mid 70's...good grief...
Maybe that’s why he shuns publicity...he;s too embarrassed after pitching those crappy Chrysler vehicles.
He was on CBS’s 60 Minutes within the last couple of years.
We paid for him to make history. He had to know that. Instead he hid out at the U. of Cinncinati. Not cool. He is a national hero.
I’d hit that!!!
The reason is that they can now prove that the little white dot in the background of the reflection on Neil Armstrong’s visor....is a studio floodlamp.
They say that today’s technology could read the brand and wattage on the light bulb.
;^)
That photo looks almost as real as Tom Hanks receiving the Medal of Honor from Lyndon Johnson in “Forrest Gump.”
In “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” today, I saw Ginny Weasley flying on a broom at 40 mph and it looked more realistic than that photo.
Know what you mean,I used a Minolta 101 up to
about 4 yrs ago,Sony digital these days
How the heck was that taken? Where would Aldrin have to have been in order to get a top down shot like that?
He doesn't owe me a thing!
I met him in 1963 in a private home in Houston. After he left we were told he would be the first man to walk on the moon. What amazed me was they had planned that far ahead. He was a new astronaut at the time.
I went with the Canon EOS system, but there are so many damned settings and gadgets....plus my eyesight desperately needs the auto-focus feature.
Just have to get back to using depth of field and backlighting. SIGH!
He couldhave used his fame to promote the space program and encourage young people to join in he venture. He didn’t. I admire him as much as anyone for his bravery. He could have done more.
In addition, as commander, he choseh himself to be the first man on the moon. What did he think would happen?
Didn't he become somewhat of a recluse?
I think some of the astronauts had trouble with celebrity. They were military guys who didn't start out craving fame and fortune ---unlike actors.
Buzz Aldrin was just on Fox News talking about how he had trouble adjusting...divorced and had a bout with alcoholism after the moon landing.
sw
Yes he did. He became an engineering professor at the U. of cinncinati. I still think he could have done more to promote the space prrogram. What did he thnink being the first human to walk on another celestial body beside Earth would mean.?
That is what I’ve always thought. They had to wear the reflective visors on their helmets because of the sun, unless they were really in the desert.
That is the way a person acts who is living a lie and their life is miserable.
Okay! They really landed in an Arizona desert.
OK...then who was it left all those beer cans and flag poles up on the moon?
What FReeper in the past always thought that the moon landing was faked? Dirty Harry, Callahan, something,...I'm having a senior moment...
I remember telling him/her that I saw the guys get on the rocket, saw it go up, from roughly 5 miles away, and the Soviets didn't say a word (of course, they had the telemetry, telescopes, etc.), during the flight, or after the splash down.
5.56mm
*sheepishly raises hand*
It was me- sorry.
I found a speech on Youtube that Neil Armstrong gave during the Clinton years, and an interview with 60 Minutes. He’s an awful public speaker, knows it, and is uncomfortable with it. He also feels, as do so many people that society calls ‘heroes’, that he just did his job, and deserves no special mention beyond that. He also seems to be more comfortable discussing tangible, quantifiable things and less comfortable discussing the stuff that people always want to ask, like ‘what did it feel like’ to walk on the Moon.
So with all of these things taken together, I can kind of see why he likes to stay out of the limelight.
I remember a thread in about 2001 or 2002 that was the most fun I think I've ever had on this forum. The poster you've named (I don't exactly remember either) was embroiled in an argument about the Moon landing, and in a sub-conversation in the same thread, another poster and I were re-writing the whole experience, predicated on speculation about what the first words spoken from another world might have been if Armstrong had twisted his ankle stepping off the lander or something like that.
It was hilarious.
I have purposely avoided 60 minutes for many years so I guess that's why I missed this...((;O)
Buzz claims to be the first man to wet his pants on the Moon. Top that, Armstrong.
Alan Shepard’s reaction remains my favorite. As he stood on the surface of the Moon and looked up at the blue, full Earth in the sky, he wept.
Despite being associated with Ron “Opey sez US Is Militaristic” Howard, the DVD of interviews with (most of) the surviving Apollo astronauts is well worth viewing. And if you get it (out of the library, rent it, whatever) be sure to finish up by watching the additional interview footage.
Ah ha, Beverly Garland. I got that same photo autographed by her some years ago at film festival in Memphis. She was a sweetheart. Unfortunately, she passed away recently.
From what I understand Neil could use our prayers.....he has some problems.....
I didn’t realize she had passed away. She always played one tough cookie. Here’s my favorite scene of hers from that particular movie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-yPRlXVfa0
“Reminds me of the Onion story about walking on the moon that had me in tears.”
Was that the one about his supposed “Good luck Mr. Gorski!” comment ?
On the lunar module perhaps?
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