posted 08-04-2018 08:24 AM               

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first people ever to set foot on the Moon, their iconic "small steps" captured forever by the camera the astronauts carried with them: the Hasselblad 500EL.

This book looks at the history of the Apollo 11 mission through the lens of the Hasselblad, while narrating the parallel challenge to create a camera that could work on the Moon. It considers the cameras used, and the photographs captured, during the Space Race between Russia and America; looks at the experience of taking photographs on the Moon for the first time; and reflects on the legacy of those images, and their part in the enduring Moon Landing conspiracy theories.

The second half of the book presents a commemorative album of photographs taken in space using the Hasselblad 500EL. While the Apollo 11 astronauts left their three cameras behind on the Moon, where they remain to this day, they brought back film magazines containing 1,400 photographs. A selection of the finest of these is shown alongside the mission timeline and transcripts of the conversations between the astronauts and mission control at Houston.

• Hardcover: 96 pages
  
• Ammonite Press (March 1, 2019)
  
• ISBN-10: 1781453349
  
• ISBN-13: 978-1781453346

posted 08-10-2018 10:42 AM               

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Originally posted by dsenechal:
I hope this synopsis is not indicative of the accuracy of the book.

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Thank you for the query. More down to our marketing text than the author's accuracy, I think.

On the first point, the cameras were indeed modified, but we're trying to convey the importance of the original 500EL as a camera model in recording the moon landing. Inside the book, where there is space, the technical adaptations are described by the author.

On the second point, the astronauts did leave three cameras behind on the moon, as stated, albeit the correspondent is correct in that only one of them was a Hasselblad EL. I think our marketing synopsis has rather conflated two pieces of information, but we wanted to convey the idea of the junk that was left behind, which I think people find interesting.

Always difficult trying to cram facts into a sales blurb, but I hope you’ll find the full text inside the book is accurate and answers any queries.