You’re probably familiar with the iconic photograph of Edmund Hillary standing atop Earth’s highest mountain wearing an oxygen mask in air so thin the sky is almost black as space — but apparently Hillary declined to be photographed and instead this photograph is by Hillary of his companion Tenzing Norgay during 1953’s first successful ascent of Mount Everest! You’re probably also familiar with the iconic photograph of Neil Armstrong in a pressure suit standing on the surface of Earth’s airless moon — but actually Armstrong carried the still camera for nearly the entire moonwalk, so this photograph is by Armstrong of his companion Buzz Aldrin during 1969’s historic Apollo 11 moon landing!
Iconic photos: Tenzing Norgay on Everest, 1953 May 29, and Buzz Aldrin on Moon, 1969 July 20. Photo credits: Edmund Hlllary and Neil Armstrong.
Hillary and Armstrong became friends later in life and even travelled together. In 1985, the pair flew from arctic Canada to the North Pole leaving the memorable logbook page reproduced below.
Page from a logbook at an arctic inn where Hillary and Armstrong stayed during their July 1985 North Pole trip. Presumably the exclamation points were added later. Credit: Stephen Braham.
2 responses to “Hillary & Armstrong”
” Tenzing Norgay didn’t know how to operate the camera” ??? This isn’t true. Hillary simply refused to have his picture taken.
Apparently, from Tenzing Norgay’s autobiography, you are correct, and I have revised the post accordingly.