Apollo 11 Astronaut Tweets Unseen Moon Landing Crew Photo Found ‘In a Box’

The social media-savvy astronaut published his discovery as the world prepares to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first human landing on the lunar surface this July.
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Michael Collins, the Apollo 11 astronaut and a member of the first Moon landing spaceflight, posted a never before seen photo of the famous crew he said he “found at the bottom of a box.”

"The crew. Found this at the bottom of a box. Don't think it was ever used by @NASA," Collins tweeted.

​The photo shows Collins, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin posing with what appears to be a large model of the Moon. The photo is autographed by Collins.

The 88-year old astronaut added a #TBT hashtag, which stands for ‘Throwback Thursday,’ an internet phenomenon when people on social media post pictures or memories of their past, which, as the name suggests, is done on Thursdays. This year, 20 July 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission.

During the mission, Aldrin and Armstrong first set foot on the Lunar surface, while Collins piloted the command module Columbia on the lunar orbit. After the surface mission was over, the two astronauts rejoined Collins in Columbia, before they embarked on a journey back home. The trio successfully splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on 24 July 1969.

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