A stunning mosaic image recapturing the remarkable image of Buzz Aldrin on the surface of the moon taken by Neil Armstrong has been created to mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
Developers Shoothill, a software specialist firm, created the mosaic from 8,000 images from all Apollo missions.
Some of the images were repeated and the total amount of images was 50,000, and they in turn formed a cell of the larger image.
In total it equates to a staggering one trillion pixels, which the firm claims could make it the biggest image ever made. Shoothill is waiting on verification from the Guinness book of records to confirm this.
The image, in its totality, can be viewed below or here.
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Shoothill engineers rendered the mosaic over several days and claim that if it was to be printed out on A4 with a conventional printer it would take two million pieces of paper weighing over 13 tonnes.
It would cost £20,000 in ink alone and be a process that would take two years.
When completed, it would cover a remarkable 31 acres.
This, along with the ‘terapixel’ statistic make it the biggest mosaic ever made, according to Shoothill.
A stunning mosaic image recapturing the remarkable image of Buzz Aldrin on the surface of the moon taken by Neil Armstrong has been created to mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing
Developers Shoothill, a software specialist firm based in Shrewsbury, created the mosaic from 8,000 images from all Apollo missions
Shoothill engineers rendered the mosaic over several days and claim that if it was to be printed out on A4 with a conventional printer it would take two million pieces of paper weighing over 13 tonnes
Rod Plummer, Managing Director at Shoothill, told MailOnline: ‘I remember the moon landings from when I was a boy, and have seen the Saturn V rocket that took man to the moon and to me, it’s still one of the greatest feats ever undertaken by mankind.
‘So to try to honour all those that took part in the Apollo program we wanted to create something fitting with the massive scale of that effort.
‘We call this technology ‘Magafiche’ because it’s the exact opposite of ‘Microfiche’ he said ‘with Microfiche, you basically looked at scaled-down reproductions of documents and photos on microfilm, but with Megafiche we can render a practically unlimited number of images and documents, to any scale, in perfect quality and all on one webpage’.
The main image created by the mosaic is one of the most iconic images ever taken from the Apollo missions
It would cost £20,000 in ink alone and be a process that would take two years. When completed, it would cover a remarkable 31 acres
In total it equates to a staggering one trillion pixels, which the firm claims could make it the biggest image ever made. Shoothill is waiting on verification from the Guinness book of records to confirm this
Jonathon Jones, a photography expert, penned an article for the Guardian in which he called the original image a work of art.
He wrote: ‘Fifty years ago this week, a former navy pilot created one of the most revolutionary artistic masterpieces of the 20th century, one we have yet to fully assimilate.’
He went on to say what made the image so striking.
‘Behind Aldrin, the moon’s bright surface recedes to a blue horizon against the black void of space. Meanwhile, reflected and warped by the helmet, the other horizon stretches away behind Armstrong,’ it reads.
‘The photographer has incorporated the making of the image into the image, to tell the story of something new in the universe: two human beings looking at each other across the dusty surface of an alien world.’
WHAT WAS THE APOLLO PROGRAM?
NASA photo taken on July 16, 1969 shows the huge, 363-foot tall Apollo 11 Spacecraft 107/Lunar Module S/Saturn 506) space vehicle launched from Pad A, Launch Complex 39. Kennedy Space Center (KSC), at 9:32 a.m. (EDT).
Apollo was the NASA programme that launched in 1961 and got man on the moon.
The first four flights tested the equipment for the Apollo Program and six of the other seven flights managed to land on the moon.
The first manned mission to the moon was Apollo 8 which circled around it on Christmas Eve in 1968 but did not land.
The crew of Apollo 9 spent ten days orbiting Earth and completed the first manned flight of the lunar module – the section of the Apollo rocket that would later land Neil Armstrong on the Moon.
The Apollo 11 mission was the first on to land on the moon on 20 July 1969.
The capsule landed on the Sea of Tranquillity, carrying mission commander Neil Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin.
Armstrong and Aldrin walked on the lunar surface while Michael Collins remained in orbit around the moon.
When Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon, he said, ‘That’s one small step for (a) man; one giant leap for mankind.’
Apollo 12 landed later that year on 19 November on the Ocean of Storms, writes NASA.
Apollo 13 was to be the third mission to land on the moon, but just under 56 hours into flight, an oxygen tank explosion forced the crew to cancel the lunar landing and move into the Aquarius lunar module to return back to Earth.
Apollo 15 was the ninth manned lunar mission in the Apollo space program, and considered at the time the most successful manned space flight up to that moment because of its long duration and greater emphasis on scientific exploration than had been possible on previous missions.
The last Apollo moon landing happened in 1972 after a total of 12 astronauts had touched down on the lunar surface.
Astronaut Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin unpacking experiments from the Lunar Module on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. Photographed by Neil Armstrong, 20 July 1969
