Buzz Aldrin Has Opened Up About That Iconic Moon Landing Photo

Do you remember where you were when we first landed on the Moon? If you’re old enough, you were probably glued to the TV, gazing in wonder as Neil Armstrong made his giant leap for mankind. But as that was all the way back in 1969, you’d assume there’s nothing new left to be said about this incredible moment in history. Well, Buzz Aldrin – one of the men on the famous Apollo 11 mission – has opened up about one of the most iconic images of the Moon landing. And what he had to say raised a few eyebrows.

Aldrin’s revelations about his Moon trip centered on one of the color shots taken on the mission. Neil Armstrong captured the image – and took all of the still photos on the Moon’s surface. This was for the simple reason that he was the one wielding the camera, a high-performance Hasselblad. That is, of course, if you believe that Aldrin and Armstrong actually made it to the Moon.

The main evidence that the astronauts did land on the Moon is their gallery of extraordinary images. For example, there’s the amazing shot of Aldrin standing by the Stars and Stripes, saluting his country’s flag flying improbably on the Moon’s surface. There’s the famous one of the first human footprints on the Moon. And, naturally, there are portraits of Aldrin. All that you would expect from the first people to visit the Moon, right?

But the so-called visor image is the one that has got people hot under the collar. In that picture of Aldrin facing the camera, we can actually clearly see Armstrong in the reflection of Aldrin’s helmet visor. Also visible in the reflection is the lunar landing module, Eagle. Yet when Aldrin was asked about this particular photo, he let slip the inconvenient truth.

The interview took place at the Science Museum in London in 2016. It was a wide-ranging Q&A, but one of the topics was the photography from the Moon mission. And as Aldrin answered questions, he let slip what felt to many like a rather startling admission. Yes, Aldrin went so far as to say that an aspect of the Moon landing had been “so well staged.”