ARMSTRONG & TRANQUILITY BASE, REFLECTED IN ALDRIN'S VISOR


As the most evocative image from our landing on the Moon, I would chose the picture that the world has picked: The one that shows the reflection in my visor. The picture taken just before that shows me walking toward the lunar module. Neil took the first picture, a profile, then he said, "Stop and turn." I stopped, turned and looked at him -- and immediately he took it. So that was a spontaneous picture, not at all posed. My hands wouldn't have been that way, with the arm kind of crooked.

[When I first jumped down the ladder from the Eagle], our next procedure was to jump back up again, and see how difficult that was. So I jumped -- but I didn't jump hard enough. I missed the first step. And that, I'm sure, is what caused the smudges on my knees. Dust must have got on that bottom rung from Neil when he jumped up first. How else could it have gotten there?