Buzz Aldrin traversing the Sea of Tranquility with experiment packages in both hands, 16-24 July 1969

Vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based paper, printed 1969, numbered "NASA AS11-40-5944" (NASA MSC) in red in top margin, with "A KODAK PAPER" watermark on verso, 20,3 x 25,4 cm

In the one sixth gravity of the lunar surface, Aldrin had to maneuver through an area covered with fragments of broken rock near a small crater (foreground) to find a level spot on which to put the LRRR (Laser Ranging Retro-Reflector).
Note the depth of the footprints he has left in the soft rim of the crater to the right.

The scientific experiments had to be deployed far away enough so that they would not be damaged by the ascent stage rocket when the Eagle lifted off.

From the mission transcript when the photograph was taken:
110:57:50 Aldrin: (To Neil) Okay; have you got us a good area picked out?
110:57:53 Armstrong: Well, I think right out on that rise out there is probably as good as any. (Pause)
110:58:06 Aldrin: Right over here?
110:58:08 Armstrong: Let’s probably stay on the high ground there and...(Pause)
110:58:16 Aldrin: Watch it. The edge of that crater is really soft.
110:58:19 Armstrong: Yeah; that’s real soft there, isn’t it?
110:58:24 Aldrin: (To Neil) Get a couple of close-ups on these quite rounded, large boulders.

Literature:
LIFE, 11 August 1969.