50 years ago this July, Neil Armstrong took 'one giant leap for mankind' as he became the first human to step foot on the moon's surface - and now, never-before-seen pictures provide a unique glimpse behind the profound 1969 voyage.
The incredible gallery of images, released to coincide with the landing's half-century anniversary, include a Michael Collins shuttle selfie, Neil Armstrong's parachute desert training, and Buzz Aldrin in his iconic spacesuit carrying out final checks just days before blast off.
All three members of Apollo 11’s crew can also be seen looking quietly confident, as they stand in front of the newly unveiled Saturn V space rocket, in what would safely transport them to the lunar surface on July 20.
Coming as part of the new book ‘Picturing Apollo 11: Rare Views and Undiscovered Moments’, the gallery documents the early preparations for the pioneering pilgrimage, right up to an elevated perspective of the watershed moment of Armstrong and Aldrin planted the US flag into the moon's dusty surface.
Michael Collins is shown in the tight quarters of the Gemini 10 spacecraft. He has just completed a 25 minute stand-up extravehicular activity, in 1969
The first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong, undergoes desert survival training at Stead Air Force Base in northwestern Nevada on 16 August 1963. The astronauts were taught how to fabricate clothing and parachutes into survival gear in the unlikely event that their spacecraft landed in a desert
Armstrong, Collins, and Aldrin (left to right) pose for news photographers as the Saturn V towers behind them just months before launch the July 16 launch
Spectators wave an American flag as Apollo 11 begins its journey to the Moon, on July 20, 1969
'The story of the first time humans landed on and explored our Moon has been told many times—by the Apollo 11 astronauts, by mission controllers, by NASA officials and historians,' explained co-author John Bisney, who aged 15, was just 12 miles away from the launchpad on 16 July 1969, the day of the Apollo 11 launch.
'Yet we believe this book will help to fill in visually the events surrounding this landmark in exploration, since a large percentage of the images you see have never been published previously.'
Bisney was one of a million-strong crowd in Florida who watched on as the three Apollo 11 astronauts were thrust from the Kennedy Space Center and out of the Earth's atmosphere.
Four days and 240,000 miles later, on July 20, 1969, Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans ever to land on the moon in their Eagle lunar module, as Collins watched on from nearby orbit.
Seven hours later, Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon.
Buzz Aldrin undergoes testing on his spacesuit in a training program. He would leave the planet within 12 weeks of this photo being taken
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, just days before launching into space, have a final look at the flight hardware
