Buzz Aldrin left his camera on the moon

[snopes]

Comment: Okay, we just saw Buzz Aldrin on T.V. Which reminds me-Is the story true
that Aldrin, piqued at being second man on the moon, left his camera in
the capsule or on the surface, so that all of the photos we have taken of
the first landing are of Aldrin?

[rlobinske]

You can look at the complete film rolls at:
http://www.apolloarchive.com/apollo_gallery.html

Choose "Apollo 11" and scan down to the mission photos and the complete Hasselblad film magazine archive. Both Aldrin and Armstrong are in the photos.

[Mycroft]

He always knew he would be the junior member (although his title was LM Pilot, it was the LM Commander who had the controls) and second man out. It may well be that the camera was left behind - every little weight saved gives them more fuel for manouevering and weight limits were strictly adhered to - but the film was brought back.

[Lainie]

Astronauts are well known for their childish fits of pique during missions.

Originally Posted by Lainie

Astronauts are well known for their childish fits of pique during missions.

Yea, one even decided to do a round of golf.



"Miles and miles...."

[Lainie]

That wasn't a childish fit of pique, it was a photo op!

Originally Posted by Lainie

That wasn't a childish fit of pique, it was a photo op!

From what I've read/heard, he got the club and the ball on the LM without people knowing (or at least the folks in charge knowing, I'm sure he had 'help').

Another bit of data: he left the club on the moon (again, the weight thing) and it was thrown out the LM door. In the last picture on the moon from that mission, you can see that they threw the club further than the ball went.

[Stan The Man]

Can't they just walk over to the soundstage and retrieve it?

[Mycroft]

I thought that I had seen the 'club' in the Smithsonian, but it may have been a reconstruction.


Just checked with the Smithsonian Air and Space museum, and thay have a replica of it, but they state that the original head was brought back and given to the US Golf Association Hall of Fame

[Lainie]

Originally Posted by Doug4.7

From what I've read/heard, he got the club and the ball on the LM without people knowing (or at least the folks in charge knowing, I'm sure he had 'help').

I still wouldn't call that a fit of pique, or childish. Had Aldrin actually done what the OP claims, that would have been childish.

Originally Posted by Lainie

I still wouldn't call that a fit of pique, or childish. Had Aldrin actually done what the OP claims, that would have been childish.

I would agree, however, the moon astronauts have been know to pull off 'strikes' and such when they feel they are being treated too much like monkeys.... But again, I'm not sure that would be 'pique' or 'childish'. They were far from robots on the missions.

[Richard W]

Originally Posted by Lainie

Astronauts are well known for their childish fits of pique during missions.

I hear they were all drunk, too...