On May 6, 1937, the passenger airship LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire during its landing maneuver at Lakehurst, New Jersey. The hydrogen-filled airship burned completely within seconds and crashed to the ground. The photograph documents the moment of the burning descent—the decisive phase of the disaster, which claimed 36 lives and marked the end of passenger airship service. Several newsreel camera teams recorded the event, thereby creating one of the most well-known film documents of the twentieth century.