262. [Apollo 11] EARTH ABOVE THE LM EAGLE: humanity's first view of home from another world Buzz Aldrin, 16-24 July 1969 Printed 1969. Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA image AS11-40-5924]. With "A Kodak Paper" watermark on the reverse (issued by NASA). 20.3 x 25.4 cm. (8 x 10 in.) Historical context An extraordinary image capturing a profound transition in human history—astronauts on the Moon, gazing back at their home planet for the very first time. This may have been one of the most overwhelming moments of Apollo 11's moonwalk, as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin eagerly sought to photograph Earth hanging in the black lunar sky with their shared Hasselblad camera (see mission transcript). To get this shot, Aldrin had to unmount the camera from his RCU bracket and angle it steeply overhead to frame Earth above Eagle's ascent stage and landing leg. "In my own view, the important achievement of Apollo was a demonstration that humanity is not forever chained to this planet, and our visions go rather further than that, and our opportunities are unlimited." —Neil Armstrong (1999 press conference for the 30th anniversary of the Moon landing) "We could also look around and see the Earth, which, though much larger than the Moon the Earth was seeing, seemed small, a beckoning oasis shining far away in the sky." —Buzz Aldrin (NASA SP-350, p. 216) Mission transcript at the time this photograph was taken: 110:50:26 Aldrin: Just too big an angle (to get the Earth), Neil. 110:50:34 Armstrong: Yeah. I think you are right. Literature The View from Space: American Astronaut Photography 1962-1972, Schick and Van Haaften, p. 14