A Closer Look At

Space photography can convey the emotion and achievement of the space program more succinctly than any written account. It is both surreal and enlightening to view images of the solar system and the astronauts who explore it.

Currently live for bidding in our Space Photography auction is the only known full-body photograph of Neil Armstrong, the first American to walk on the moon.

After the Apollo 11 mission, the Public Affairs division of NASA examined the newly developed 70mm and motion picture film in search of a press-worthy photograph of the first man on the Moon. As the search wore on, they began to wonder whether such a photograph existed at all.

The head of Public Affairs at Johnson Space Center (then called Manned Space Flight Center), Brian Duff, was urged to call Armstrong, who was still in quarantine in the Lunar Receiving Laboratory. According to Duff, the conversation went something like this:

Then Duff hung up the phone, and the team went to press with the classic “Visor Shot” of Buzz Aldrin, assuming that that Aldrin had never used the 70mm Hasselblad camera. But Duff misunderstood Armstrong’s very precise answer.

Armstrong was never intended to hand the camera to Aldrin. Rather, the flight plan dictated that he would leave the camera on the Modularized Equipment Stowage Assembly (MESA) for Aldrin to pick up when he was ready – and he did just that, using the Hasselblad to capture images 5876-5900; 5904-5926 on Magazine S (40).

Armstrong is featured in AS11-40-5886, packing the bulk sample of the MESA during the first lunar extravehicular activity.

 It took nearly two decades for this reality to come to light. Two British researchers, H.J.P. Arnold and Keith Wilson independently realized the fact, and Wilson was the first to publish his findings in the August 1987 issue of Spaceflight magazine, after confirming with Neil Armstrong himself.

As a consequence, very few NASA "red number" photographs of this number were issued.

Bid on this and other rare images in Space Photography until December 1. For inquiries, please contact Adam.Stackhouse@bonhams.com