Apollo 11: Catching Some Sun
Credit & Copyright: Apollo
11,
NASA (Image scanned by Kipp Teague)
Explanation:
Bright sunlight glints as long dark shadows mark this image of the
surface
of the Moon.
It was taken
fifty-four
years ago, July 20, 1969, by Apollo 11 astronaut
Neil Armstrong,
the first to walk on the lunar surface.
Pictured
is the mission's lunar module, the Eagle,
and spacesuited lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin.
Aldrin is unfurling a long sheet of foil also known as the
Solar
Wind Composition Experiment.
Exposed facing the Sun, the foil trapped particles streaming
outward in the solar wind, catching a sample of
material from the
Sun itself.
Along with moon rocks and lunar soil samples,
the solar wind collector was returned for analysis
in earthbound laboratories.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
