48 years after humankind made history by landing on the moon, astronaut Buzz Aldrin took to Twitter to recount the story behind one of the world’s most iconic photos.
When Neil took this pic of me it was very spontaneous. He said “stop right there” & I turned. You can see the motion of the strap #Apollo11 pic.twitter.com/EzTGoPj2VO
— Buzz Aldrin (@TheRealBuzz) July 20, 2017
Although Aldrin did not get the “first man on the moon” credit as Neil Armstrong did, Time magazine reports that it was Armstrong who carried the crew’s 70-millimeter Hasselblad, and took all the pictures.
“He’s just standing in place, a small, fragile man on a distant world—a world that would be happy to kill him if he removed so much as a single article of his exceedingly complex clothing,” Time reflects.
“And Armstrong, looking even smaller and more spectral, is reflected in his visor. It’s a picture that in some ways did everything wrong if it was striving for heroism. As a result, it did everything right.”
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