Buzz Aldrin Has Opened Up About That Iconic Moon Landing Photo
On July 20, 1969, some 600 million people around the world were glued to their TV sets as the Apollo 11 lander made its final descent to the Moon. Neil Armstrong took that first step on the lunar surface, closely followed by Buzz Aldrin. But not everyone accepts the truth of this momentous achievement. Indeed, the whole enterprise has spawned a legion of bizarre conspiracy theories. And those theories didn't come out of nowhere. Years later, Aldrin revealed some surprising facts about his time on the Moon that have some people revisiting the event.
Iconic Shots
Aldrin’s revelations about his Moon trip in a 2016 interview centered on one of the color shots taken on the mission by Armstrong. In fact, Armstrong took all of the still photos on the Moon’s surface for the simple reason that he was the one wielding the camera. The many famous shots he got were captured with a high-performance Hasselblad.
The Salute
Of course, the astronauts captured a whole gallery of extraordinary images from this first manned Moon-landing expedition. That’s hardly a surprise given the momentous accomplishment of those two men setting foot on the Moon. For example, there’s the amazing shot of Aldrin standing by the Stars and Stripes, saluting his country’s flag flying improbably on the Moon’s surface.
The Visor Image
A single photograph of Aldrin’s bootprint in the moondust is another unforgettable shot. Then there’s what’s known as the visor image. In that picture of Aldrin facing the camera we can actually clearly see Armstrong in reflection in the former’s helmet visor. Also visible in the reflection is the lunar landing module, Eagle.
A Slip Of The Tongue
Indeed, one of the many topics Aldrin addressed in an interview staged at the Science Museum in London, England in 2016 was the photography from the Moon mission. And as he answered questions he let slip what we might seem to be a rather startling admission. He went so far as to say that an aspect of the moon landing had been “so well staged.”
