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SPACE NOWHistory

The past behind what's next.

Object

Hasselblad 70mm camera, Apollo 11

The camera body carried on Apollo 11. Almost every photograph people picture when they think of the first Moon landing was made through a camera of this type.

  • Revision: 1
  • Dates: 1969-07-16 (day precision)
  • Last reviewed: 2026-08-14
  • Status: Preserved in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum collection
  • asset-library: asset_45822474766b96171e68

The object

Full frame first: the source before any crop, zoom or annotation.

A Hasselblad 70mm camera body flown on Apollo 11, photographed against a plain background in museum lighting, its lens mount and film magazine attachment visible.
Present day Preserved in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum collection.Credit: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum; Transferred from the National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationSource: canonical item pageRights: CC0; AUTO_USABLE (evidence recorded 2026-08-09)Transforms: autorotate — EXIF orientation applied where present; resize — fit within 640 px wide, aspect preserved, no enlargement; encode — AVIF quality 55

What this object shows

That the imagery of Apollo 11 was made with a modified commercial medium-format camera rather than purpose-built optics — the same product line sold to photographers on Earth, adapted for vacuum, temperature and gloved hands.

Orientation

Role: Photographic documentation of the mission

Chronology

  1. day precisionHasselblad 70mm camera, Apollo 11 enters the record.

Related records

  • supports

    Which pictures came home, and by what route?

    Confidence: high · 1969-07-20 (day precision)

  • part of

    Which half of the camera actually returned to Earth?

    Confidence: high · 1969-07-20 (day precision)

  • relates to

    One stayed on the Moon, one came home.

    Confidence: high · 1969-07-20 (day precision)

Inspect the record1 assertion, each with its source

  • Hasselblad 70mm camera, Apollo 11 is held in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum collection; the rendition shown here is exported from that catalogued record with its credit and rights basis recorded.

    Source class: museum collection recordSmithsonian National Air and Space Museum collectionView the source

CorrectionsNone recorded

No corrections recordedThis record has not been corrected since it was published.