Apollo 11: Catching Some Sun

Bright sunlight glints as long dark shadows mark this image of the Lunar Surface. It was taken fifty-four years ago, July 20, 1969, by Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first to walk on the lunar surface.

Pictured is the mission’s lunar module, the Eagle, and spacesuited lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin. Aldrin is unfurling a long sheet of foil also known as the Solar Wind Composition Experiment.

Exposed facing the Sun, the foil trapped particles streaming outward in the solar wind, catching a sample of material from the Sun itself. Along with moon rocks and lunar soil samples, the solar wind collector was returned for analysis in earthbound laboratories.

This iconic feat was a milestone in Solar System exploration and a testament to human ingenuity in Celestial Astrophotography.