One of these days happened on July 20, 1969 for Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. Do you remember what you were doing? Where you were? If you were around then chances are pretty good you were either listening to the radio or glued to the TV watching Apollo 11 landing on the moon.

Kodak went along with them to the moon - in a couple of ways. We provided three different types of film:

• Ektachrome EF film SO168
• Ektachrome MS film SO368 35mm film used in the stereo  
• Panatomic-X recording film - this was specially developed for use on the moon

These films were used in three forms 16mm motion pictures, 70mm stills, and 35mm in the stereo close-up camera. The 70mm still film had a special thin-based and thin emulsion double perforated film that was able to capture 160 color pictures or 200 black and white pictures.

Kodak created a stereo close-up camera that was beamed up on Apollo 11. About seven months before Apollo 11 landed on the moon NASA commissioned a new camera - - a 35mm camera for creating stereo photos. The purpose of this camera was to take close-up photos of the soil and rocks. It was to be used to determine what the lunar rocks were made of? How craters were formed - by meteors, volcanic action or a combination and where the moon came from?

A few of the camera features:

• Able to withstand temperature fluctuations of +/- 250 degrees
• Collapse for easy storage
• Easy buttons for "fat fingers" (the astronauts gloves)
• Built in flash
• Removable film cassette - because the camera was to be left on the moon
• And of course keep it simple to use
• Resulting photos were 2 side-by-side 3 inch photos - the actual exposed film was 1 inch square

The final product was just a pinch bigger than a cigar box with a long handle. An astronaut could pick it up and set it down with out bending over. The handle was also used as the trigger for taking the picture because of limited amount of dexterity of their hands with the gloves on. In the foreground of the picture below is the stereo camera.


Photo courtesy of NASA

Title: Aldrin unpacks experiments

Description: Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot, prepares to deploy the Early Apollo Scientific Experiments Package (EASEP) on the surface of the Moon during the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity. Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong, commander, took this photograph with a 70 mm lunar surface camera. In the foreground is the Apollo 11 35 mm stereo close-up camera.

Now that is the ultimate point-and-shoot. Amazingly - it was built in 6 months!!

Here are the images side-by-side


Photo courtesy of NASA

Here it is with the stereo effect


Photo courtesy of NASA

Now onto our homepage photos and a few interesting trivia facts:

While taking pictures Neil could not see what he was taking pictures of - camera being strapped to his chest there was no view finder. Now that is a photo challenge...


Photo courtesy of NASA

Title: Buzz Aldrin on the Moon

Description: Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, lunar module pilot, walks on the surface of the Moon near the leg of the Lunar Module (LM) "Eagle" during the Apollo 11 exravehicular activity (EVA). Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong, commander, took this photograph with a 70mm lunar surface camera. While astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin descended in the Lunar Module (LM) "Eagle" to explore the Sea of Tranquility region of the Moon, astronaut Michael Collins, command module pilot, remained with the Command and Service Modules (CSM) "Columbia" in lunar orbit.

The crosses you can see in the photos - they were on the plate of the camera, the purpose was to have a means to determine distances between objects


Photo courtesy of NASA

Description: Leftward of 5960. Down-Sun photograph of the LM from the rim of East Crater. We can see Neil's shadow and the shadow of the Gold camera. Note that the doors of the SEQ bay are closed. This frame gives us a feeling for elevation of the rim. When he took this picture, Neil was clearly standing above the level of the LM footpads. Note the darkened tracks leading leftward to the EASEP deployment area and rightward to the TV camera. Compare with the LPI traverse map ( 1.32Mb ).

The size of Neil Armstrong's boot was 13x6 inches...is that a big ol' boot?


Photo courtesy of NASA

Title: Close-up view of astronaut's foot and footprint in lunar soil

Description: Close-up view of an astronaut's footprint in the lunar soil photographed with a 70mm lunar surface camera during the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity on the moon.

The Eagle has landed derived from when the lunar module when it landed in the Sea of Tranquility - the name of the lunar module was Eagle


Photo courtesy of NASA

Title: Aldrin Looks Back at Tranquility Base

Description: Astronaut Edwin E."Buzz" Aldrin Jr., Lunar Module pilot, is photographed during the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity on the Moon. He has just deployed the Early Apollo Scientific Experiments Package (EASEP). In the foreground is the Passive Seismic Experiment Package (PSEP); beyond it is the Laser Ranging Retro-Reflector (LR-3); in the center background is the United States flag; in the left background is the black and white lunar surface television camera; in the far right background is the Lunar Module "Eagle". Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong, commander, took this photograph with a 70mm lunar surface camera.

Originally, little was expected from photos taken in space. But that changed, quickly. Almost 100,000 photos were taken to help map Apollo's landing sites. The first photographs from the moon came in 1964


Photo courtesy of NASA

Description: View of Earth from orbit


References and additional sources of information
http://www.nasaimages.org
http://history.nasa.gov/apollo_photo.html
http://www.airspacemag.com/space-exploration/shooting-moon.html
 

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