Are There No Photos Of Neil Armstrong On The Moon? Internet Has The Answer

Landing on the moon was one of the biggest achievements of India in 1969, and we couldn’t be more proud of this. But recently, a rumour has been doing rounds on the internet claiming that there are no photos of Neil Armstrong, the first person to set foot on the moon, from his historic journey. Though there is footage showing him hopping about on the planet’s surface, naysayers think that there are no photos of the astronaut because either the landing was faked or he couldn’t be identified in his space suit and helmet.

But rest assured, there are actually two pictures of the celebrated astronaut on the moon, which were clicked by fellow astronaut Buzz Aldrin. The first photo shows Armstrong raising the US flag with Aldrin, and another shows his face. However, it is not wrong to say that the dearth of too much photographic evidence of their mission is because they didn’t live in a world controlled by social media.

A Reddit user poised the subject to National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) subreddit with the question, “Is it true that there is no picture of Neil Armstrong on the moon taken by Buzz Aldrin?”

In the viral post, he wrote, “I recently read through the book Of a Fire on the Moon. I came across a note that there is basically no picture of Neil Armstrong on the moon besides the video footage where he climbs out of the lander. I am seriously interested in this fact because the author also mentioned what this must say about a human who is the first one on the moon but wouldn’t have taken a picture of himself in this situation.”

“I also thought about the possibility of just handing over the camera to Buzz Aldrin. Would had been Neil Armstrong able to just give the camera to him? Maybe it was kinda mounted to his suit? (In this case, he wouldn’t have been able to pass the camera to Aldrin.) But yeah, I’m deeply impressed with Neil Armstrong’s selfless personality,” he added.

Debunking the myth, an influx of Reddit users came forward to provide evidence, with one sharing a brief history about the astronauts. He wrote, “There are actually two still pictures of Armstrong on the moon. One shows Armstrong’s back to the camera, and the second shows Armstrong taking the picture of Buzz Aldrin that one can see in the reflection of Aldrin’s visor. If you do a web search, you’ll find a bunch of articles about why this happened. From what I have read, the primary reason was that it simply wasn’t considered important.”

“As others mentioned, it wasn’t considered a mission priority to take pictures of themselves. Their time on the surface EVAs was extremely limited, and every minute (and every picture) was accounted for in the mission plan. But there’s also the reason that during training, of the two, Armstrong proved to have more skill in composing shots and using the equipment, so he was assigned primary photography duties,” posted another.

An individual added, “Neil had the camera the whole time for scientific photos and really wasn’t focused on or really wanted pictures of him on the moon, but rather getting his job done. He was a very humble and modest man and didn’t care much for the attention or accolades of being the first on the moon.”