Neil Armstrong in an early (pre-Gemini) spacesuit
I so love this photo.
Something about Armstrong’s demeanor just looks so dejected, as if this very serious Air Force man can barely conceal his disdain for having to take time out of his day for some publicity photo-op when there’s very serious Air Force business to attend to.
And what’s more is that everything about this photo is so inconsonant with the subject it portrays. This is a guy who flew X-15s at Mach 3, even once taking one of them so high he literally bounced off the atmosphere upon re-entry—and, unlike the later Apollo flightsuits which at least made Armstrong &co. resemble a team of gridiron warriors off to subjugate the moon with modern machinery and machismo, here he just looks emasculated, his bravado suffocated by the several rolls of aluminum foil he’s been wrapped up inside of.
