What Buzz Aldrin saw when he landed on the moon on Apollo 11 is recreated in incredible simulation from the Lunar Renaissance Orbiter
- As Lunar Module touched down, video recorded view from Buzz Aldrin’s window
- Shaky 16mm time-lapse showed craft flying over craters as it made its descent
- NASA have used high quality pictures taken by orbiter camera in recent years
- Stitched these together to recreate the exact view astronaut’s saw on way down
Unless you’re a multimillionaire, there’s a good chance you’ll never see the ‘magnificent desolation’ of the moon.
But luckily for you, NASA have made a reconstruction of the view from Buzz Aldrin’s window as the Apollo 11 Lunar Module made its historic landing 50 years ago.
The original footage, taken from the right hand side window, is from a 16mm time-lapse at just six frames per second, leading to a rather jerky picture.
Now a team have stitched together newer, higher quality photos of the moon based on landmark navigation and altitude call outs from a voice recording as they landed.
NASA have made a reconstruction (right) of the view from Buzz Aldrin’s window (left) as the Lunar Module Eagle made its historic touch down 50 years ago
These pictures came from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera – a spacecraft with three black and white cameras on it that was launched in 2009.
Since then, it has been orbiting the moon at a distance of between 30-125 miles (50-200km), takings snaps on two narrow angle and one wide angle cameras.
The video shows three minutes of the descent to the surface of Earth’s satellite.
It recreates the Eagle flying over several craters, including the Little West, before successfully landing.
NASA have placed the video side-by-side with the real video footage recorded on that momentous occasion for comparison.
The result is a far smoother video, that more accurately depicts exactly what Aldrin saw the Eagle landed.
Unfortunately, Neil Armstrong’s view of the moon as he navigated over the rocky terrain to find a suitable spot was not recorded.
NASA released the video for the 50th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11 yesterday.
The original footage, taken from the right hand side window, is from a 16mm time-lapse at just six frames per second, leading to a rather jerky picture
A team stitched together newer, higher quality photos of the moon based on landmark navigation and altitude call outs from a voice recording as they landed to the create the footage
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