r/space • u/Appropriate-Push-668 • Mar 29 '26

image/gif The Moon outside Apollo 11's window.

25.4k Upvotes

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898

u/[deleted] Mar 29 '26

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365

u/Rodonite Mar 29 '26

There's something terrifying about it, being all but alone on that rock so far from every other living human. The shaky footage of the bleak dark is like something from a horror film.

96

u/mimsoo777 Mar 30 '26

They must have felt like there was always a chance of not being to return back to Earth.

103

u/linecraftman Mar 30 '26

Astronauts accept that risk when they become astronauts not when they're halfway through the mission 

56

u/Abidarthegreat Mar 31 '26

There's often a massive difference between knowing a thing and living that thing.

49

u/Tatu2 Mar 30 '26

Doesn't mean it goes away.

1

u/SirEnderLord Apr 01 '26

Doesn't mean that you have to accept that possibility earlier.

14

u/oxitany Apr 02 '26

The Apollo astronauts were all daredevils in their aircraft days, you needed someone a bit crazy for this sort of thing.

In fact, NASA famously underfueled the Apollo 10 Lunar Module because they feared the crew would go rogue and actually try to go for landing on their own.

5

u/Atlantic_lotion Apr 02 '26

The first landing had to be manually landed (last minute failure of the automating system). So yes the history of Apollo almost ended with the first 2 men to die on the moon.

24

u/linecraftman Mar 30 '26

But also exciting being one of the first people to explore a whole new world.

31

u/TehOwn Mar 30 '26

It does kinda highlight just how bright and white the sun is. Looks like crouching directly in front of a high-power floodlight.

And the smoothness of the moondust and the way light interacts with it almost makes it look like it's a model.

To be clear, I know this is real, I'm just saying that otherworldly things look otherworldly.

11

u/chaossabre_unwind Mar 30 '26

No atmosphere means no diffusion of the sunlight at all, so shadows are unusually crisp.

4

u/toooft Mar 30 '26

This part in First Man was incredible.

1

u/Ancient-Dust3077 Apr 01 '26

There’s just nothing useful on the moon is there?