Stereo Slide from Apollo 11 Lunar EVA


Slide From Apollo Lunar Surface Close-Up Camera	Apollo 11 Lunar Surface Close-Up Camera

Scan Of Transparent Images From Earth To The Moon's Apollo 11 Stereo Slide

NASA Processed Images For Photo ID AS11-45-6712

This artifact is a stereo slide of a pair of images taken during the Apollo 11 EVA using the Apollo Lunar Surface Close-Up Camera (ALSCC). This 35 mm camera provides stereo close up images of the surface of the moon. Each image captured an area of 3 by 3 inches with a resolution of approximately 80 microns. The camera is sometimes referred to as "the Gold camera" in honor of its inventor, British Astronomer Thomas "Tommy" Gold.

These close up images showed detail that could not be seen by the astronauts or by other photographs brought back from the Moon. These special photographs gave geologists a unique insight into the geological processes that shaped the lunar surface.

Astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin captured 17 close-up images of the lunar surface with the Stereo Close-Up Camera during their EVA. In one of the images above from Apollo 11 you can see the Apollo Lunar Surface Close-Up Camera resting on the Moon near the Lunar Module Eagle.

The stereo slide by itself is an interesting artifact. The transparent images of the lunar surface are sandwiched between two thin sheets of glass. The slide assembly is held together with an aluminum frame. The thickness of the frame is approximately one eighth of an inch. The slide dimensions are about four inches wide by one and five eighths of an inche high. Inscribed in the aluminum frame is the NASA photo ID, AS11-45-6712.

The NASA description for this photo states: "An Apollo 11 stereo view showing a stone, about two and one-half inches long, embedded in the powdery lunar surface material. The little pieces closely around it suggest that it has suffered some erosion. On the surface several small pits are seen, mostly less than one-eighth inch in size, and with a glazed surface. They have a raised rim, characteristic of pits made by high-velocity micrometeorite impact. The exposure was made by the Apollo 11 35 mm stereo close-up camera."

The Earth To The Moon Air & Space Museum acquired this artifact from a private collector in April of 1993.