VFX Artist 'Unwraps' Classic Apollo Pic to Show Us What Buzz Aldrin Saw on The Moon

sciencealert.com ^ | 22 Jul, 2021 | MICHELLE STARR

[MtnClimber]

Fifty-two years after the first historical Moon landing, we've been given a brand new perspective of a classic Apollo-era photo.

Reddit user and visual effects artist Michael Ranger, AKA rg1213, chose the iconic photo of Buzz Aldrin taken by Neil Armstrong during the Apollo 11 mission, and 'unwrapped' the lunar vista reflected in the astronaut's helmet.

The result is a never-before-seen, 360-degree astronaut's-eye panoramic view of the Moon.

"What makes this process exciting for me is the fact that this is real," Ranger wrote on Reddit. "If I get any inkling whatsoever that something like this is fake or false, my interest in it completely evaporates. This is great because it's real!"

The photo in question is an iconic one, taken in July of 1969. Aldrin stands near the leg of the Eagle lunar module, his left arm cocked. In the reflection on his visor, his shadow stretches out in front of him, the module shines in the harsh light of the unfiltered Sun, and Armstrong stands with the Hasselblad camera held at chest height.

If you look carefully, you can see Earth, right at the top of the visor.

Ranger's reconstruction follows a previous attempt in February of 2019, and an earlier version from a few days ago using a lower resolution photo.

"I took this famous image of Buzz Aldrin on the Moon, zoomed in to his visor, and because it's essentially a mirror ball I was able to 'unwrap' it to this 2D image. Then I opened that in the Google Street View app and can see what [Aldrin] saw," he explained.

The latest version uses the highest resolution image available, taken from the comprehensive Project Apollo Archive on Flickr.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks MtnClimber. Unusually, a modern history ping for GGG, but the Moon looks old and dusty. Good digest ping as well.

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[rdl6989]

I noticed that and wondered if it could be the command module orbiting?