If you look closely at the image file, there are scratches on the negative that extend through the flag. Looks to me like it was created with an in-camera double exposure. Been a LONG time since I did anything like that. I’ve only got one working film SLR now, and it’s only had about 6 rolls of film through it since I got it, nearly 3 years ago...
It definitely looks like it came off of one negative. What was done in camera was a first-class job, and I think most people would accept it as a legit shot. I just cant reconcile the angle on the flag and the angle of the Saturn as being shot from the same location, or at the same zoom factor.
Thanks for the link and the additional info.
I agree - it was done the old-fashioned way. I used to play with that technique on my Olympus OM-2. It's definitely a pre-Photoshop image; I saw a framed 11 x 14 copy of the print hanging on a wall at the Stennis Space Center in south Mississippi. That was on the occasion of a public tour of the Army ammo plant which is (was?) also on the grounds, so I'd say it was 1984 or thereabouts. The condensation boiling out of the air caught my eye; I'd seen it before in pics of airplanes but never one of the Saturn launches.
It's a convincing double-exposure, for certain. Look at how the corner of the flag appears to be illuminated by the rocket plume (it's probably the sun hitting that edge). A great image for wallpaper - pity it's not a sharper pic.