Passing of an era.

Here's to all those NASA folks that made it possible for him to go. I salute you all.

His footstep on the Moon leads the way. I salute you, Neil.

I had the pleasure of meeting him briefly at a NASA/JPL function in 1986.

Yep, he had a spectacular life as pilot / astronaut and man on the moon.

Now what me always a bit puzzled was why these lunar photos, shot with the best cams that were available at the time (special designed hasselblads) and, I guess good films from Kodak, were a bit vague. Even the colored ones shot with the 6 x 6 hasselblad are not sharp - or is that the answer: the astronauts didn't / couldn't focus well with the camera's since they had these big helmets on...

Rest in peace, and thank you so much for showing us the way.

Vick

If I haven't missed my guess looking at a few of the EVA photographs, it looks like the ones they used outside were scale focus cameras. No prism/ground glass visible.

I still remember that July evening sitting in front of the TV watching History being made..

Indeed a sad day. I still have the commemorative coin I got as a 5 year old! I have a vivid memory of building the airfix kit of the Apollo rocket at my Gran's. He along with his fellow pilots and astronauts inspired many to want to fly including myself. RIP Neil Armstrong.

Taxes takin' my whole damn check,
The junkies make me a nervous wreck,
The price of food is goin' up,
An' as if all that crap wuzn't enough,
A rat done bit my sister Nell.
with Whitey on the moon

-Gil Scott-Heron

RIP Neal

R.I.P. Neil.....and THANKS for everything.....

Try to get a copy of 'Full Moon' by Michael Light - it contains breathtakingly sharp prints of those Apollo missions - rescanned from the master negatives.

I will be taking out my Hasselblad with 60mm lens in his honour.

Must have been awesome... I'm too young.

Growing up as a young child in the '70s, I worshipped his exploits. He was one reason I went to Navy flight school (Neil was a Naval Aviator, too). That was back when science and engineering were cool (now it's finance and banking, apparently).

Godspeed Neil Armstrong.

My thought also

....and "Good luck, Mr. Gorsky."

I've raised a glass or many to Neil tonight.

I would second FrozenInTime's recommendation of "Full Moon" by Michael Light. They are stupendously beautiful images.

In July of 1969, I was hitchhiking around Europe, having just graduated from college and wanting to see the world. Because of this, I was in a pension in Lyon, France the day Neil Armstrong landed on the moon.

The owner asked if my friend and I wanted to come up to her private residence to watch the historic event on TV. We both took her up on her offer.

Rest in Peace, Neil Armstrong.

Ellen

Terrible that he survived so many shoestring pieces of technology only to die of a complication of one of the most common operations. But fitting too in a grim sort of way.

In 1971 I was 11 and I knew by heart pages and pages of the conversation between Houston and the command module and the LEM of Apollo 11. A biography I read recently, First Man, is worth a read.

End of an era.

I struggle to get good shots with the hasselblad without a space suit on

I find this site strangely enough the night before last and was studying the images on it, the photos are very hi-res, on the right below is shown at 100% -



Have a look if you are interested - http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/ under 70mm Hasselblad, there are also some Nikon F pics from Apollo 17

Cheers, Richard

what a spectacular life. He looks a bit like Yuri Gagarin in the top left photo.

I vividly remember listening to the lunar landing on July 20, 1969. The phrase "kicking up some dust" is indelibly burned in my brain.

I just went outside and looked at the moon. Seems to be the proper tribute to a great man.

Jim B.

I was seven and a half when Armstrong took that step. Even in the UK all the boys were collecting soup-tin labels (I think that was what the promotion was on?) during the Apollo program, so that we could pester our parents to order the "free" posters of some of the amazing photographs. I think I recall reading recently that a moon-mapping satellite had seen the shadows from the equipment left on the moon surface, and that the flag was still standing. Possibly that was another of the landing sites though.

(Edit: I eventually checked this. The sites of Apollo's 12, 16 and 17 still have their flags. The Apollo 11 flag was seen to blow over in the blast as the module took off, so the later astronauts simply placed the flags further away).


Thanks to RichW, above, for the link to the transparencies and other photo materials. It gives a new meaning to "Sunny-16" (yes, I know that wouldn't actually work very well without an atmosphere) and it was reassuring to see that there are a couple of accidental exposures of hands and elbows in the collection!

For seven year old me, I can certainly admit that Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins inspired a lot of enthusiasm for science and technology.

I sat on the floor in front of the TV, to one side so as not to block Dad's view from his easy chair, and watched Neil make that one small step and giant leap. I took a picture of the TV screen at the historic moment and processed it in the basement that night. The development of technology that made that small step possible was indeed the giant leap that has changed all of our lives.

I read somewhere that the Hassies had 2 exposure settings, light & shadow, and 3 focus settings, near, mid and far. IMO, these brought home fantastic photos. Their cameras are, of course, still on the moon.

http://www.hasselblad.com/about-hass...e-cameras.aspx

I was working a shift at a electric motor plant, we had the radio on while I filled bins with parts. An exciting time.

I also still remember standing in downtown Chicago 9 months later watching a news reader board update the latest on Apollo 13, a very scary time.

well now i gotta decide if the moon landing was fake or if the you tube film was faked