An 'astonishing act of creativity'. An original NASA print of the most iconic photograph taken during the Apollo 11 mission, Buzz Aldrin walking on the Moon's surface with photographer Neil Armstrong and the Lunar Module reflected in his visor. This 'astonishing act of creativity' was 'the dreamlike climax of a love affair between Nasa's astronauts and photography – a passion that altered human consciousness for ever' (Jones, 'The Greatest Photos Ever? Why the Moon Landing Shots are Artistic Masterpieces', the Guardian, July 17th, 2019).

Astronaut John Glenn was the first American to take photographs in orbit, using a Leica for colour photos of the Earth and his own Minolta, altered by NASA engineers, to make infrared astronomical images. Seven years later the Apollo 11 mission 'carried four 70mm cameras. There were a total of 1407 exposures made on 9 magazines of film; 857 images on black & white film and 550 on colour film' (Lunar and Planetary Institute). Magazine 40/S, from which this photograph originates, contains the most well-known of the colour photos made during the mission. It was used while the astronauts explored Tranquility Base and performed scientific experiments, with the majority of the images taken by mission commander Armstrong (NASA, Apollo 11 Lunar Module Hasselblad Cameras and Magazines).

Prints of these photographs, produced at the time by the NASA Photography Technology Lab in Houston, can be identified by their paper, A Kodak, and the serial numbers printed on the margin. The colour most commonly used to print the serial numbers was red, but blue, green, and black were also used interchangeably with no significance for priority (Wolenski, Authenticating Vintage NASA Photography).

The astronauts who participated in the Space Race, 'weren't passive travellers on their rockets but explorers fully open to the newness of what they saw, and capable of expressing it in a poetry all of their own'. Their portraits 'show us the stupendous fact of human consciousness in an otherwise mindless universe. One human photographing another in space is as perfect an image of the mystery of ourselves as you can get' (Jones).

Large-format chromogenic print (20.2 x 25.3 cm) on A Kodak paper, NASA negative number AS11-40-5903; mounted, framed and glazed with the reverse visible, print a little faded and cockled, slight creasing to lower left corner, very good condition.