[FPSPACE] Neil Armstrong mystery

[Nick Watkins]

Harry (H J P) Arnold made a lot of effort to track down a pic of Armstrong on the surface, he wrote his finding of one up in Spaceflight-no idea where/when though

N

--- On Fri, 8/5/09, Peter Pesavento <pjp961 at svol.net> wrote:

> From: Peter Pesavento <pjp961 at svol.net>
> Subject: [FPSPACE] Neil Armstrong mystery
> To: fpspace at friends-partners.org
> Date: Friday, 8 May, 2009, 5:37 PM
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> Greetings
> everyone. 
> 
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>   
> 
> I went to a used
> book sale sponsored by one of the local
> public libraries today, and I picked up a copy of “We
> Came in Peace: The
> Story of Man in Space,”  a book published in
> 1969 about the Apollo
> program and had the latest photos from the Apollo 11
> feat.  One could buy
> a copy of this book at one’s local Gulf gasoline
> station in  August
> 1969 (despite that the publication indicators internally
> indicate September
> 1969 as the publication date).  I think it may have
> been a premium one
> could get for buying X number gallons of gas for
> one’s car. 
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> (I was told
> about this book when I was small.  I think
> I may even have seen it in the house, or in a local
> library.  My family
> had bought one I think, but it was thoroughly used and
> ultimately trashed
> because its binding wasn’t permabound by the time I
> could appreciate the
> contents.  The pages separated from the
> binding.) 
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> I paid 50 cents
> for the book. 
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> Now to the Neil
> Armstrong mystery. 
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> I dimly, dimly
> remember about a decade ago or so ago, that
> there were some articles claiming that there were hardly
> any photographs of
> Neil Armstrong while he was upon the Moon, and none that
> showed Armstrong
> himself front and center in any photo (taken by Aldrin). I
> equally dimly
> remember one photograph of Armstrong that was identified as
> such of him where
> the astronaut (in shadow) was near a footpad of the LM,
> which was taken by
> Aldrin.  Of course, Armstrong’s most famous
> photo was the one where
> he took a photo of Aldrin, and one could see Armstrong in
> the reflection of the
> visor.  (Perhaps one of the two most recognizable
> photographs from Apollo
> 11, and perhaps the most iconic of all photos from the
> Apollo program (outside
> of the bootprint photo)).   
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> But I also dimly
> remember the claim that there were no
> actual purposefully taken photos of Armstrong on the Moon,
> that could be easily
> identified as such.   
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> Well, back to
> the book I paid 50 cents for today. 
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> I perused the
> book, and lo, on page 47, there is a
> photograph of Armstrong, and you can tell it’s him
> (you can see his face
> clearly through the visor).  And the type of hard,
> contrasty shadows in
> the picture indicates it was indeed taken on the lunar
> surface.  It doesn’t
> appear to be one of those NASA PR shots during training
> with the gentler
> shadows and textures one would be used to in Earth-taken
> pictures.  It
> looks like the real thing. 
> 
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> 
> All the
> photographs situated around this particular one in
> question are no question taken upon the surface of the Moon
> during Apollo 11. 
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> If anyone has a
> copy of this book, take a look at that photo
> on the page I point out.  
> 
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> My question
> is:  Can it be that this is indeed the
> elusive photograph of Armstrong on the Moon, well-composed
> by Aldrin, and it is
> easily recognizable as Armstrong? 
> 
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> 
> Full
> bibliographic citation follows. 
> 
> 
>   
> 
> Leftoi Smith,
> editor.  “We Came in Peace: 
> The Story of Man in Space” published by Classic Press
> Inc.,
>  San Rafael , CA  
>  first printing, September 1969. 77
> pages. 
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> -----Inline Attachment Follows-----
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