The Most Unique Photo in the History of Humanity

Michael Collins: Pilot of the Command Module of the Apollo 11 mission. He took the photo below at 21:34:00 UT or 5:34 PM EDT, 21 July 1969

Michael Collins, the astronaut who took this photo, is the only human, alive or dead that isn’t in the frame of this picture, 1969

Collins took this picture of the Lunar Module, containing Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong with Earth in the background, during the Apollo 11 mission. This makes him the only person ever to have lived who was not inside the frame of the photo. Matter cannot be created or destroyed. That means that every human that lived up to the point of this photo being taken still exists, at least in some form, and every human that has been born since then was also is in this photo, at least in some form. So even if you were born after this picture was taken, the materials you’re made from are still on the frame of this picture.

So there are other "unique" photos, but I really like this one.

For the Large Scale version of the photo, click this link. And for all of the Apollo 11 photos, see this link at NASA.

Apollo 11 Liftoff: 16 July 1969 at 13:32 UTC

The Anniversary of Apollo 11 is tomorrow, so I thought I would dig out the 2 videos that I love, and some info on the Saturn V. (Shamelessly stolen from myself from the 40th anniversary, with some edits.)

The launch of Apollo 11 took place on 16 July 1969 at 13:32 UTC. (That is 9:32 AM Eastern Daylight Time in case you're confused.) For those of you who don't remember, it was the first Apollo mission to land men on the moon.

I love the 2nd video I've embedded, because of the detail, and because there is expert commentary, but not everyone agrees with me.

We will start with a video that is a compilation of views from various cameras, including the control room, and the audience on site at Cape Canaveral. The thumbnail photo is the same (or nearly the same) for both videos, but I assure you that they are different. The video is about 6 minutes.

This is Saturn V launch-pad footage from that day. It is 16mm film at 500 frames per second. 8 minutes plus worth of video is only about 30 seconds of real time, but that gives you time to absorb the details of the launch. I think it is fairly interesting.

Some stats on the Saturn V:

• Produced thrust of 34.5 million newtons (7.6 million pounds)
• Fueled weight 2.8 million kilograms (6.2 million pounds)
• Height of 111 meters (363 feet)

Michael Collins: Pilot of the Apollo 11 Command Module

Michael Collins: Oct. 31, 1930 – April 28, 2021. He took the photo below at 21:34:00 UT or 5:34 PM EDT, 21 July 1969

Michael Collins, the astronaut who took this photo, is the only human, alive or dead that isn’t in the frame of this picture, 1969

Collins took this picture of the Lunar Module, containing Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong with Earth in the background, during the Apollo 11 mission. This makes him the only person ever to have lived who was not inside the frame of the photo. Matter cannot be created or destroyed. That means that every human that lived up to the point of this photo being taken still exists, at least in some form, and every human that has been born since then was also is in this photo, at least in some form. So even if you were born after this picture was taken, the materials you’re made from are still on the frame of this picture.

For the Large Scale version of the photo, click this link. And for all of the Apollo 11 photos, see this link at NASA.