Apollo 11 stereo view showing stone embedded in powdery lunar surface

AS11-45-6712 (20 July 1969) --- An Apollo 11 stereo view of a stone, about two and one-half inches long, embedded in the powdery lunar surface material. The little pieces closely around it suggest that it has suffered some erosion. On the surface several small pits are seen, mostly less than one-eighth inch in size, and with a glazed surface. They have a raised rim, characteristic of pits made by the Apollo 11 35mm stereo close-up camera. The camera was specially developed to get the highest possible resolution of a small area. A three-inch square area is photographed with a flash illumination and at a fixed distance. The camera is mounted on a walking stick, and the astronauts use it by holding it up against the object to be photographed and pulling the trigger. The pictures are in color and give a stereo view, enabling the fine detail to be seen very clearly. The project is under the direction of Professor T. Gold of Cornell University and Mr. F. Pearce of NASA. The camera was designed and built by Eastman Kodak. Professor E. Purcell of Harvard University and Dr. E. Land of the Polaroid Corporation have contributed to the project. The pictures brought back from the moon by the Apollo 11 crew are of excellent quality and allow fine detail of the undisturbed lunar surface to be seen. Scientists hope to be able to deduce from them some of the processes that have taken place that have shaped and modified the surface.