neilarmstrong

A rare historical print of the only photo taken of Neil Armstrong on the moon is set to go to auction this week and is estimated to sell for a whopping $30,000.

The only photo captured of Neil Armstrong on the moon is up for auction along with approximately 2,400 vintage original photographs showcasing NASA's golden age of space exploration, many never seen by the public. It is the most comprehensive private collection of NASA photographs ever presented at auction.

In 1976, NASA sold the original tapes of the Apollo 11 moon landing to then-intern Gary George by accident. The tapes were part of a set of 65 boxes of 2-inch videotapes that George bought for the whopping price of $217.77. Those same tapes are scheduled to be auctioned off through Sotheby's on July 20th with a starting bid of $700,000, and an expected worth of up to $2 Million.

After Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, passed away in 2012, his widow contacted the National Air and Space Museum. Carol Armstrong had discovered a white cloth bag in one of Neil's closets, and it was filled with items that looked like they had been used in space. Among the contents was a forgotten camera that had been used to capture images of the first moon landing.

Conspiracy theorists often point to moon landing photos as evidence that the whole thing was faked by the US government. One of the arguments is that since there's only one main light source in the photos -- the sun -- the shadows should have been much darker and less detailed.

That argument has now been debunked thanks to one newly uncovered fact: Neil Armstrong's spacesuit actually served as a great reflector, bouncing light into the shadows and illuminating many scenes.

Only NASA could turn photography into literal rocket science. As Reddit user truetofiction points out in a resource-rich post, NASA meticulously decided upon a number of factors that determined the fate of the space-bound Hasselblads and the resulting images.

It was 45 years ago, yesterday, astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins took on what is without a doubt one of the most important endeavors in the history of humankind. Packed together into one of the most incredible pieces of engineering to ever exist, the astronauts of Apollo 11 left Earth’s atmosphere, with hopes of being the first humans to ever step foot on the Moon.

To commemorate the accomplishment many thought was impossible – and to those who still do – we have put together a chronological collection of photos documenting the entire journey. Shared by NASA as part of their Project Apollo Archive, these images are just a few from the vast archive of medium format, 35mm, and 16mm frames captured throughout the Apollo missions.

Here’s a small piece of history that’ll get you going and inspired to take on the week: a photo …

Neil Armstrong passed away this past Saturday at the age of 82. In addition to being the first man to walk on the moon, he was also the first photographer to set foot on that hunk of rock 238,900 miles away. Armstrong and fellow astronaut Buzz Aldrin snapped a total of 122 70mm color photographs using modified Hasselblad 500EL cameras during their short visit on July 21, 1969. However, not all of them were pretty.

American Photo magazine writes that the photographic record left by those two men shows a very human picture of that first landing. Some of the "dud" photos show accidental shutter preses, focusing errors, lens flare, and even photobombed landscape shots.