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Neil Armstrong's Buzz Aldrin photo is unparalleled in art
Few would deny that Neil Armstrong's shot of fellow astronaut Buzz Aldrin is one of the most famous and compelling photos ever taken. What makes it so iconic? Of course, he had access to a place that only 11 other human beings have been, but there's more to it than that. The photo itself is well composed, full of incredible details and charged with the energy of the occasion. How Armstrong got it is a story of not just luck, but preparation and a great eye.
Google recreates Apollo 11's command module with AR
The 50th anniversary of our first successful trip to the moon is fast approaching. And Google, which rarely shies away from marking a significant moment in history, has laid out some of the ways in which it'll celebrate the half-century since Apollo 11 reached the lunar surface.
Lego is releasing an Apollo 11 Lunar Lander set for its 50th anniversary
The 50th anniversary of the human race's first trip to the moon is fast approaching, and Lego is marking the milestone with a NASA Apollo 11 lunar lander set. It'll be available June 1st for $100.
Recommended Reading: AI the music producer
How AI-generated music is changing the way hits are made Dani Deahl, The Verge The rise of streaming services is one of many challenges the music industry is currently having to contend with. In the latest installment of its "The Future of Music" series, The Verge tackles another pressing issue: AI. This piece tells the story of Taryn Southern, an artist who used AI to co-produce her debut album.
Neil Armstrong's spacesuit is wasting away
Plastics are the worst. Some types are killing marine life because they don't break up fast enough, while others are making museum conservators' lives a lot harder because because they fall apart too easily. The Smithsonian's conservators are struggling to keep some of the museum's exhibits intact due to plastics, for instance, including a very important piece of space history: Neil Armstrong's spacesuit.
Neil Armstrong's collection of space artifacts goes up for auction
The first man to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong, took several items with him on that historic trip, including a US flag, a United Nations flag, state flags and several medallions that were only available to NASA astronauts. He also apparently kept the original camera that recorded his moonwalk in a closet. Now, Armstrong's personal collection will be offered for sale in a series of auctions starting November 1st and 2nd in his home state of Ohio. Bids can be offered online, by phone or in person.
Apollo 11's crew capsule is going on tour
The Apollo 11 space capsule was displayed around the country in 1970 and 1971, shortly after it safely brought Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins back from their iconic 1969 moon trip. Since then, the command module has lived in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. Over the next few years, though, the spacecraft will get some fresh air as it embarks on its first national tour in nearly half a century.
How real spacesuits differ from movie versions
The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's curator Cathleen Lewis and conservator Lisa Young answered a number of questions from the public via a Reddit AMA session yesterday. The topic? Spacesuits. They recently raised over $600,000 on Kickstarter for the conservation of Neil Armstrong's Apollo 11 suit, and now they've begun promoting the project. One of the most interesting tidbits they dropped is the difference between real spacesuits and movie props. The biggest inaccuracy for Lewis is the size of most movie versions' helmets: turns out Hollywood merely exaggerates them to get a clear view of the actors' faces. "If you look at actual Apollo bubble helmets and photographs of astronauts wearing them, you will see that they are actually tightly fitting," Lewis answered the user who asked about movie inaccuracies. "The diameter of the helmets is about 12 inches. No one with claustrophobia would be able to get beyond the initial helmet fit."
Neil Armstrong kept the original moon landing camera in his closet
If you were the first to set foot on a celestial body, wouldn't you keep a few mementos from the trip? The great Neil Armstrong certainly did -- including one of the most important gadgets in recent history. The Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum has revealed that the astronaut stored numerous items from the Apollo 11 moon landing in a closet at home, the highlight of which is undoubtedly the 16mm Data Acquisition Camera used to record the iconic moment he reached the lunar surface. Armstrong apparently held onto the camera and other "odds and ends" (as he told Mission Control) on the way back to Earth, and never mentioned them when he returned. Thankfully, you won't have much trouble seeing some of these artifacts in the near future. They're part of an exhibit at the museum, so you only have to book a trip to Washington, DC, by June 8th to see some of the technology that defined early space travel. [Image credit: Dane Penland, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution]
Revisiting the Apollo 11 Moon landing 45 years later
Today marks the 45th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission where Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins made their trip to the Moon. Sure, you could say that there's likely more tech in our pockets than what was used to allow those three to meet their lunar destiny. For whatever reason, though, powering up an Android device or an iPhone isn't nearly as impressive as the fact that we shot humans into outer space and that they walked on the nearest hard surface. Join us as we celebrate that monumental event in the gallery below. For even more, be sure to check out the recent Reddit Ask Me Anything session with Aldrin. Spoiler: he thinks that Gravity is the best depiction of astronauts in zero-G he's ever seen. [Image credit: NASA]
Pioneering astronaut Neil Armstrong dies at 82
It's a story that we hoped we'd never have to report. Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on Earth's Moon, has died at the age of 82 after complications from heart surgery three weeks earlier. His greatest accomplishment very nearly speaks for itself -- along with help from fellow NASA astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, he changed the landscape of space exploration through a set of footprints. It's still important to stress his accomplishments both before and after the historic Apollo 11 flight, though. He was instrumental to the Gemini and X-series test programs in the years before Apollo, and followed his moonshot with roles in teaching aerospace engineering as well as investigating the Apollo 13 and Space Shuttle Challenger incidents. What more can we say? Although he only spent a very small portion of his life beyond Earth's atmosphere, he's still widely considered the greatest space hero in the US, if not the world, and inspired a whole generation of astronauts. We'll miss him. [Image credit: NASA Apollo Archive]
Apollo 11 moon mission to be recreated on the web
While the shuttle Endeavour is having a tough time getting off of the launch pad, the Apollo 11 moon mission should proceed as scheduled later this week. Some 40 years after Neil Armstrong and a host of behind-the-scenes workers at NASA made JFK's vision a reality, WeChooseTheMoon.org is being launched to recreate the whole spectacle. Starting a full 90 minutes prior to the 40th anniversary (that's 8:02AM on July 16th), the site will be fully operational, tracking the capsule's route from Earth to the moon. Reportedly, visitors will be able to peek "animated recreations of key events from the four-day mission, including when Apollo 11 first orbits the moon and when the lunar module separates from the command module." If you're one of those who remembers "exactly where you were on that fateful day," you should probably queue up a Google alert and bookmark your browser to relive the whole experience again.
Motorola's Aura Celestial Edition soon taking "giant leaps" for "mankind"
Here's a fact: the world really doesn't need another mildly tweaked Aura. Sorry, it just doesn't. That being true and all, we're still pretty jazzed to see Motorola giving the ultra-luxurious handset another go with the moon-themed Celestial Edition. Word on the street has it that this here handset won't deviate much from the predecessor, but it will come pre-loaded with multimedia from the original moon landing mission, a laser etched quote honoring the 40th anniversary of the journey and a price tag that's far, far beyond stratospheric. We're told that it's all set to go on sale next month, but good luck finding one.[Via phoneArena]
