Surprising new discovery in iconic moon landing photo of Buzz Aldrin
An amateur photographer has painstakingly restored a photo of Buzz Aldrin walking on the moon to reveal his smiling face on the lunar surface for the first time.
Andy Saunders, 45, has uncovered hidden details from one of the most iconic photos ever taken.
Applying photo-enhancing technology used by astronomers to improve the resolution of far-away planets, Saunders was able to alter the photo's clarity.
He brightened and darkened the shades of the photo, often a few pixels at a time, to slowly reveal a face beneath the hazy helmet glass.
Once the outline of Aldrin's facial features became slightly clearer, Saunders spent hours tweaking the saturation and contrast of tiny areas at a time.
It revealed for the first time a clear shot of the astronaut giving a cheeky grin as he turned his head to face the camera, previously obscured by his reflective visor.
The image was taken by fellow astronaut Neil Armstrong just moments after Aldrin planted a pole with the American flag into the lunar surface in July 1969.
It became one of the most iconic photos of the 20th century – with MTV using it to market itself, replacing the flag with its own logo.
Andy, a property developer from Culcheth in the UK’s Cheshire, has released the image to celebrate the 50th anniversary year of the Apollo 11 landing.
"I wonder how many people would realise based on the original image that Buzz is visible,” he said.
"It must have been viewed billions of times. What's interesting is it's one of the most iconic images of all time and it has been holding this detail which I've managed to reveal. Although I'm the first to do it, it's really not that technical.
"I just use photo-processing equipment and dedication. I alter the contrast, reduce the sound and edit the highlights on the countless amount of layers. I use what is called dodging and burning.
"I was able to faintly make out the microphone across his face and from there I was able to spot his eyes. Then I work with a collection of pixels at a time to expose what is underneath. But nothing is copied into the photo. All the data is already there. I just enhance that. This one took me hours to do."
Earlier this year Andy applied the same techniques to a photos of Neil Armstrong stepping off Apollo 11 in NASA video footage. It took him several days.
"They're such famous photographs and to be able to see both their faces on the 50th anniversary is really quite something,” Andy said.
"Now you're able to see the pair of them in space.
"It completes the Apollo 11 'set'."
"There's not many photos of astronauts' faces in space,” Dr Robert Massey, of the Royal Astronomical Society, said.
"You often see pictures of reflective visors so to see a human face beneath reminds us people had actually made it onto the moon rather than robot props.
"We are looking to going back to the moon in the 2020s.
"It's quite refreshing to see the human journey told through pictures in the 1960s."
Earlier this year marked the 50th anniversary of The Apollo 11 mission by Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins.
– MEGA
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