The giant leap for mankind taken by astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong when they first stepped on the Moon back in July 1969 wouldn’t have been the same if the process hadn’t been photographed and recorded in such amazing detail.
That’s why on the 50th anniversary of the first Moon Landing, July 20, it’s about time that Hasselblad, the maker of the Hasselblad 500EL camera, is given its rightly due as a key aspect of the lunar trip.
Deborah Ireland explores the impact that the Hasselblad cameras had on the Moon landing in the book, Hasselblad & The Moon Landing.
Two of the three Hasselblad 500EL cameras were left on the Moon, whilst the astronauts bought back film magazines containing 1,400 photographs of the mission.
The photographic historic book explores the tale of the challenge to create a camera that could work in space, alongside images taken of the astronauts in training and some of the iconic shots taken during the mission.
There’s also the only photograph of Armstrong taken on the Moon’s surface, as the rest of the images we think of as related to the lunar landings were of Aldrin.
It’s also amazing to think that these incredible photographs almost didn’t happen. NASA was sceptical of the use of photography during the mission as it believed it may be a hazardous distraction to the astronauts.
However, following the success of images taken during the Mercury missions, the US’s first human spaceflight program, which ran from 1958 until 1963, the all clear was given for cameras to be used to document the voyage.
50 years on, the Apollo 11 Moon landing remains one of humanity’s greatest achievements and it’s amazing to remember the feat through these images.
Hasselblad & The Moon Landing, £9.99; ammonitepress.com
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