Newsgroups: sci.space
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Controversy
Message-ID: <1991Feb10.022219.2255@zoo.toronto.edu>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <1991Feb9.064442.6737@ee.ualberta.ca>
Date: Sun, 10 Feb 1991 02:22:19 GMT

In article <1991Feb9.064442.6737@ee.ualberta.ca> tanaka@ee.ualberta.ca (Craig Tanaka) writes:
>... I was wondering if someone could clarify whether or not
>it was taken by a remote camera or was restaged afterwards.  (the video of
>Armstrong jumping off the ladder on the descent module down to the surface.)

The low-resolution video, shot from a strange angle, where you need to
concentrate to sort out what's going on, is live and for real the very
first steps.  Early in Armstrong's descent, he pulled on a cord to release
the latch of the surface-equipment-bay door.  The camera was fixed to the
door so that it faced the ladder when the door flopped open.  I can assure
you that it wasn't restaged; half a billion people, including me, were
watching and listening to it happen.

If the video you're looking at is shot from a level camera and is clear
and easy to follow, you're probably looking at Aldrin coming down or at
a sequence from a later mission.

(As a side note, if you're looking at a still photograph from Apollo 11
on the surface, the astronaut is 99.9% certain to be Aldrin, because
Armstrong had the camera most of the time.  I believe they've turned
up one still which is, based on context, Armstrong.)  (It took another
mission or two before they figured out that it was a good idea to mark
the spacesuits so you could tell the two astronauts apart easily.)
-- 
"Read the OSI protocol specifications?  | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
I can't even *lift* them!"              |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry