It is a portrait of humanity evolving before our eyes into something new and extraordinary. (His suit is genderless: the Apollo astronauts wore spacesuits made by the bra company Playtex, and their urine-proof underwear was adapted from a girdle.) In losing his selfhood, Aldrin becomes each one of us. Photograph: AFP/GettyĪldrin has become everyman – and everywoman. ‘A thrilling swirl of land, water and cloud’ … Earthrise by Apollo 8’s William Anders. The photographer has incorporated the making of the image into the image, to tell the story of something new in the universe: two human beings looking at each other across the dusty surface of an alien world. Meanwhile, reflected and warped by the helmet, the other horizon stretches away behind Armstrong. Behind Aldrin, the moon’s bright surface recedes to a blue horizon against the black void of space.

Yet these reflective qualities are part of what makes this such a powerful, complex image, one in which we can see two lunar horizons. This effacement of Aldrin came about because Apollo astronauts wore visors lined with gold to protect their eyes from sunlight.

His features and flesh are hidden inside a thickly padded white spacesuit, its visor reflecting the tiny figure of Armstrong himself, beside the gold-coloured legs of the lunar lander. His name was Neil Armstrong and his astonishing act of creativity is a photograph of his Apollo 11 crewmate Buzz Aldrin standing on the Sea of Tranquillity on the moon. F ifty years ago this week, a former navy pilot created one of the most revolutionary artistic masterpieces of the 20th century, one we have yet to fully assimilate.

Moon landing nasa stock photo