1. [Apollo 11] THE FOOTPRINT ON THE MOON Buzz Aldrin, July 16-24, 1969 Printed 1969. Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA image AS11-40-5877]. With "A Kodak Paper" watermark on the reverse (issued by NASA). 20.3 x 25.4 cm. (8 x 10 in.) Historical context A step toward immortality. After first photographing the pristine lunar soil, untouched for billions of years, Buzz Aldrin captured this iconic image of his footprint pressed into the fine lunar dust. This photograph has become a lasting symbol of human space exploration. Like the haunting footprints left by early humans in caves during the Ice Age, Aldrin's boot print is expected to endure for thousands of years, carrying the same timeless message: "We were here." (Reynolds, p. 260) NASA often presented this iconic footprint in black-and-white, making this stunning colour print even rarer. "A step toward immortality." —Wernher von Braun, chief architect of the Apollo Saturn project (Thomas, p. 179) "The most iconic image is the mark of a boot on a surface unlike any found at home. Not a rocket, dazzling in its technology and power; not some beautiful, distant nebula; but a simple sign of man's arrival on a surface beyond the Earth. Evidence that we have walked further. A step into that magnificent desolation." —Buzz Aldrin (Foreword, Space: The First 50 Years, Mitchell Beazley, Octopus Publishing Group, London, 2007) Literature LIFE, 11 August 1969, back cover; National Geographic, December 1969, pp. 736-737 (variant) Chaikin, Space: A History of Space Exploration in Photographs, p. 97 Full Moon, Light, plate 48 Apollo: The Epic Journey to the Moon, Reynolds, p. 261 Spacecam: Photographing the Final Frontier from Apollo to Hubble, Hope, p. 21 Moon: Man's Greatest Adventure, Thomas, p. 178 Apollo: Through the Eyes of the Astronauts, Robert Jacobs, ed., p. 63