An amazing new photograph showing Neil Armstrong's face through his space suit visor has come to light. The image was shot by the movie camera mounted on the lunar lander but the frame lasts for only a fleeting moment. It shows Armstrong's face in clear view as he walks across the lunar surface.

Spacecraft Films, an Ohio-based specialist in historical space footage, has transferred the footage into high definition format and captured the split-second scene as a still image, now released for the first time in a new book, Voices from the Moon, by author Andrew Chaikin.

'This is the first time that the public are seeing it,' said Chaikin, revealing that even Armstrong - despite his modest ways - was quietly impressed to receive one of the new prints of himself as a souvenir.

The moment was captured as Armstrong gathered samples of moon rocks during his 21-hour visit to the lunar surface exactly 40 years ago, on July 20, 1969.