Neil Armstrong, a modern explorer and (more importantly for us at IP) the first photographer on the Moon, is dead, aged 82.
As the primary photographer of the first successful manned lunar mission, Neil Armstrong appeared very infrequently in the photos he took on the Moon [1]. Yet, he was everywhere on the Sea of Tranquility during that short 2 hour 36 minutes sojourn; a bootprint here, a reflection there, and his larger-than-life shadow intimately looming behind the viewer in many photos.
Two men were equipped with four special Hasselblad 70mm cameras, two 16mm data acquisition cameras and one 35mm close-up stereoscopic camera. Altogether, they took 232 color and 107 black and white photographs on the surface of the moon. The cameras were left on the Moon to make room for lunar samples. The Hasselblads were fitted with a reseau plate — a piece of engraved glass between the lens and the film that add cross-hatches to the photos — in order to help NASA analyze the films later by creating a grid. In that event, many of the frames remained in NASA archives, until a project to digitize them was completed in 2004.
As for Neil Armstrong, I will send him off by paraphrasing Richard Nixon/William Safire:
In ancient days, men looked at the stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood. Neil Armstrong was one such man.
In his exploration, he stirred the people of the world to feel as one, and bound more tightly the brotherhood of man.
He will be mourned by his family and friends; he will be mourned by his nation; he will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send one of her sons into the unknown.
*
[1] Hopefully, I won’t die of heart attack in next couple of days as I fume over news agencies mislabeling Buzz Aldrin as Neil Armstrong in those lunar photos.
Busy was the Chinese Communist Party in the first few days after it brutally suppressed…
Four months after the massacre, as the Communist regimes in Eastern Europe also looking increasingly…
This was the third major story Picture Post published on the Holocaust, after the liberations…
When Nordhausen concentration camp in Thuringia was liberated by the 104th US Infantry Division on…
Six weeks after Mussolini's downfall, in September 1943, the British 8th Army liberated an Italian…
After the levees gave way in New Orleans, editors and photographers from Vanity Fair waded…
View Comments
Interesting article, thanks! I’ve subscribed to your website posts.Nice ideas in this blog.I agree.Insurance Quotes
Thank you for the auspicious writeup. It in fact was
a amusement account it. Look advanced to far added agreeable from you!
However, how could we communicate?
Very nice post. I simply stumbled upon your weblog and wanted to mention that I've really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. In any case I will be subscribing for your feed and I'm
hoping you write again soon!
You really make it seem really easy along with your presentation but I in finding this matter to be really one thing that I believe I would by no means understand.
It seems too complicated and very extensive for me.
I am looking forward for your subsequent publish, I will
attempt to get the grasp of it!
Reblogged this on Drshoman2009's Blog.
You've made some really good points there. I looked on the internet for more information about the issue and found most individuals will go along with your views on this site.
Your way of describing all in this post is in fact nice,
all be capable of simply be aware of it, Thanks a lot.
Amazing! Its in fact remarkable article, I have got much clear idea regarding from this post.
It is the best time to make some plans for the long run
and it is time to be happy. I have read this submit and if I may
I desire to counsel you some attention-grabbing
issues or tips. Perhaps you could write next articles referring
to this article. I desire to read even more issues approximately it!
If you are going for finest contents like I do, only go to see this website everyday as it presents feature contents, thanks