From Earth To The Moon
Explore amazing archival images from NASA’s Apollo program.
The closest look we’ve had at the moon came from the launch of NASA’s Apollo program in the 1960s. Between 1967 and 1972, a series of missions landed the first men on the moon. Equipped with handheld cameras, Apollo astronauts documented their journey, capturing photos of the moon and its rocky terrain through surveys conducted from lunar orbit and on the ground. The collection of moon exploration photos includes up-close views of impact craters, mountain ranges, volcanic channels and maria—dark regions believed to have been formed from molten rock. The images are part of a massive archive of more than 14,000 photos taken by Apollo astronauts. Explore the images to learn more about the Apollo program and see select shots from the missions.
The approximately 250,000-mile journey from Earth to the moon took Apollo astronauts about three days.
From lunar orbit, astronauts pointed cameras out the window of their spacecraft to capture photos of the moon's surface.
Surveys from orbit informed the landing sites of future Apollo missions and deployment of scientific instruments.
Since July 20, 1969, the date of the first moon landing, only 12 people have stepped foot on the moon.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Images courtesy of NASA
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Writer
- Jenny Hottle (NASA/GSFC)
Release date
This page was originally published on Thursday, January 14, 2016.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:48 PM EDT.