Apollo 11 Launch Images [Burgess]

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of 118 digital image files created in 2009 by photographer Travis Burgess by scanning original 35 mm black and white photographic negatives which he had made in July 1969. The first series of 112 images (NASM 9A13870 through 9A13981) feature astronauts Neil A. Armstrong (Commander), Michael Collins (Command Module Pilot), and Edward E. "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr. (Lunar Module Pilot) participating in a preflight press conference on July 5, 1969, in the Building 1 auditorium of the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas; measures designed to reduce the possibility of exposing the crewmen to infectious disease in the preflight period (face masks and a box-like enclosure) can be seen in this series. During the conference the astronauts answer questions from reporters, show off a copy of the stainless steel Apollo 11 plaque to be left behind on the Moon in commemoration of the historic landing, and pose with the Moon plaque and a mission insignia plaque. The second series consists of six images (NASM 9A13982 through 9A13987) taken at the launch of Apollo 11 on its Saturn V rocket from Launch Pad 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on the morning of July 16, 1969, at 9:32 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (local time).

Arrangement

Images are presented in their original (chronological) order, and have been divided into two series by event. Burgess' original image filenames have been changed to NASM Archives image reference numbers NASM-9A13870 through NASM-9A13987, retaining their original order.

Biographical / Historical

The Apollo program began as part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) long-term plan for lunar exploration. Following President Kennedy's speech of May 25, 1961, which called for a lunar landing by the end of 1969, NASA accelerated its development scheme accordingly. Apollo 11 (July 16-24, 1969) was the fourth manned flight of the program and the first manned landing on the moon. The mission objectives were to "perform a manned lunar landing and return; conduct scientific experiments; [and] collect soil and rock samples for return to Earth." The three-man crew, Neil A. Armstrong (Commander), Michael Collins (Command Module Pilot), and Edward E. "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr. (Lunar Module Pilot) accomplished all mission objectives. Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon in the Sea of Tranquility at 3:17pm on July 20, 1969, and, six hours later, Armstrong became the first person to set foot on the moon at 9:55pm. The two men spent two hours outside the lunar module and gathered 21kg of lunar samples before lifting off at 12:54am on July 21, 1969, to rendezvous with Collins.