Why this is the best photo taken during the Apollo 11 mission, 47 years ago today
It's a simple picture, really: A backlit photographer's shadow stretched out onto a landscape.
But this one is different.
The photo was taken by NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin while on the surface of the moon, not long after the Apollo 11 mission landed on the lunar surface for the first time.
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Aldrin's shadow stretches over a truly alien landscape, a place where no human had set foot before he and Neil Armstrong did 47 years ago today, on July 20, 1969.
And they did it for all of us.
A plaque attached to the leg of the lunar module that brought Aldrin and Armstrong to the moon reads: "We came in peace for all mankind."
Sure, the first two men to plant their feet on the lunar surface took flashy photos that have become iconic over the years, but this one -- this simple shadow -- reveals how human space exploration is.
At the end of the day, it just comes down to a person's will and a camera.
Aldrin, looking over the vast expanse of the lunar surface, back-lit by light from the sun, shows how far they came, risking life and limb to reveal something no one had seen before and sharing it with the rest of the world.
This picture -- just like Voyager's "Pale Blue Dot" photo or any "blue marble" image showing the world in full view -- shows just how small we are.
The moon's horizon, beyond Aldrin's shadow, cuts away into the blackness of space, a view we aren't afforded on Earth while sheltered by our home planet's atmosphere.
Aldrin's only protection from the moon's harsh environment comes from the bulky spacesuit outlined in the moon dirt before him.
This photo also represents something huge about humanity itself.
While the Apollo program started off as a race to the moon against the former Soviet Union, it turned into something larger: the best example of the human spirit that strives for exploration.
In spite of the fact that people wage war on one another, act petty on the internet and are notoriously short-sighted, this photo is a reminder that we can also do truly amazing things.
Miriam Kramer worked as a staff writer for Space.com for about 2.5 years before joining Mashable to cover all things outer space. She took a ride in weightlessness on a zero-gravity flight and watched rockets launch to space from places around the United States. Miriam received her Master's degree in science, health and environmental reporting from New York University in 2012, and she originally hails from Knoxville, Tennessee. Follow Miriam on Twitter at @mirikramer.
