Meanwhile, the pre-recorded EVA video footage, shot in studios here on Earth, were played back to the press in low resolution, so as to try and hide the illusion. With that statement, what he was actually admitting is that the reason he and Collins could not see stars was they never actually went to the Moon! The furthest they traveled was to the comparative safety of low Earth orbit, where he and other two Actornauts spent the duration of the mission, until being ordered to initiate re-entry procedures and return home. This was patently obvious during the post Apollo 11 press conference, when he and Collins flat out lied about not being able to see stars, either in lunar orbit or on the lunar surface "without using the optics".
The face of an disciplined military man forced to become little more than the starring actor in a real life science fiction epic called the Apollo project.He was forced into playing the role against his will and though sworn to the utmost secrecy, he wanted to let the fact it was all a hoax out of the bag without letting his play writers at NASA know. A circuit breaker chart has been fixed up on the wall with gray tape, below the rendezvous window in the cabin roof. The circuit breaker panels are illuminated, and a small floodlight is on at the lower right. Neil has his helmet off but has not yet doffed his “Snoopy” cap. Original caption from the Apollo 11 Image Library:īuzz took this picture of Neil in the cabin after the completion of the EVA. The time spent on EVA during Apollo 11 was about two and a half hours, the shortest of any of the six Apollo lunar landing missions We came in peace for all mankind”.Īrmstrong’s final task was to remind Aldrin to leave a small package of memorial items to deceased Soviet cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin and Vladimir Komarov, and Apollo 1 astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger B. It reads: “ Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon.
#FIRST MAN ON THE MOON NEIL ARMSTRONG 1969 PATCH#
They leave behind an American flag, a patch honoring the fallen Apollo 1 crew, and a plaque on one of Eagle’s legs. After helping to set up the Early Apollo Scientific Experiment Package, Armstrong went for a walk to what is now known as East Crater, 65 yards (59 m) east of the LM (Lunar Module), the greatest distance traveled from the LM on the mission. With more than half a billion people watching on television, he climbed down the ladder and proclaimed: “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind”.Īldrin joins him shortly, and offers a simple but powerful description of the lunar surface: “magnificent desolation”. I felt very, very small”.Īt 2:56 UTC July 21, 1969, Armstrong set the first human foot on another world. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. “It suddenly struck me that, that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. Armstrong would later describe his emotional state as “elated, ecstatic and extremely surprised that we were successful” – and we see it all, right here.
His ecstasy is palpable it is the face of a man so clearly awe-struck that all he can do is grin and cry. Aldrin snapped this shot of a teary-eyed Armstrong moments after he returned to the spacecraft and removed his helmet. The look of pure joy, accomplishment and disbelief is just a testament to what the mankind can achieve. That’s why this photo, rarely seen, is such an impeccable piece of history. We’re often subjected to the standard shots taken by Buzz Aldrin of the grey, rocky surface with a few faceless spacemen standing still and posing. On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first man to ever walk on the moon, starting a new era on the space exploration. Neil Armstrong immediately after his, and mankind’s, very first moon walk, 1969.