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Lot 241
[Apollo 11] THE EAGLE HAS WINGS: LM Eagle descends for humanity's first landing on the surface of another world Buzz Aldrin, 16-24 July 1969
14 – 28 April 2025, 12:00 CEST
Paris, Avenue HocheSold for €1,024 inc. premium
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[Apollo 11] THE EAGLE HAS WINGS: LM Eagle descends for humanity's first landing on the surface of another world
Buzz Aldrin, 16-24 July 1969
Printed 1969.
Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA image AS11-44-6584].
Numbered "NASA AS11-44-6584" in red in the top margin, with NASA caption and "A Kodak Paper" watermark on the reverse (issued by NASA Manned Spacecraft Centre, Houston, Texas).
20.3 x 25.4 cm. (8 x 10 in.)
Historical context
This iconic Apollo 11 photograph captures the Lunar Module Eagle moments before humanity's first landing on another world. Taken by Michael Collins from the Command Module Columbia after undocking, the image shows Eagle with its gold and silver thermal insulation gleaming against space, its landing legs extended in preparation for touchdown. As Neil Armstrong exclaimed, "The Eagle has wings" (see mission transcript), the spacecraft floated freely, ready for the final, fateful descent to the Moon.
The long probes extending from three of the legs were designed to detect the lunar surface and trigger engine shutdown upon contact. As Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin piloted Eagle toward Tranquillity Base, Collins remained alone in Columbia, orbiting the Moon and awaiting their return.
This moment was the culmination of years of engineering, training, and ambition—a step that fulfilled President John F. Kennedy's challenge to land a man on the Moon before the decade's end.
Beyond its technological significance, this image embodies the human drive to explore the unknown, forever changing our place in the cosmos.
Printed 1969.
Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA image AS11-44-6584].
Numbered "NASA AS11-44-6584" in red in the top margin, with NASA caption and "A Kodak Paper" watermark on the reverse (issued by NASA Manned Spacecraft Centre, Houston, Texas).
20.3 x 25.4 cm. (8 x 10 in.)
Historical context
This iconic Apollo 11 photograph captures the Lunar Module Eagle moments before humanity's first landing on another world. Taken by Michael Collins from the Command Module Columbia after undocking, the image shows Eagle with its gold and silver thermal insulation gleaming against space, its landing legs extended in preparation for touchdown. As Neil Armstrong exclaimed, "The Eagle has wings" (see mission transcript), the spacecraft floated freely, ready for the final, fateful descent to the Moon.
The long probes extending from three of the legs were designed to detect the lunar surface and trigger engine shutdown upon contact. As Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin piloted Eagle toward Tranquillity Base, Collins remained alone in Columbia, orbiting the Moon and awaiting their return.
This moment was the culmination of years of engineering, training, and ambition—a step that fulfilled President John F. Kennedy's challenge to land a man on the Moon before the decade's end.
Beyond its technological significance, this image embodies the human drive to explore the unknown, forever changing our place in the cosmos.
Footnotes
"It doesn't look like any eagle I've ever seen. It is the weirdest-looking contraption ever to invade the sky, floating there with its legs awkwardly jutting out above a body which has neither symmetry nor grace."
—Michael Collins (NASA SP-350, p. 210)
From the mission transcript after undocking of CSM Columbia and LM Eagle:
100:17:51 Duke (Mission Control): Eagle, Houston. We - Houston. We see you on the steerable. Over. [Pause.]
100:18:01 Armstrong: Roger. Eagle's undocked.
100:18:03 Duke: Roger. How does it look, Neil?
100:18:04 Armstrong: The Eagle has wings.