Science

These 17 panoramas and GIFs show the first moon landing in unbelievable detail

buzz aldrin moon apollo 11
Buzz Aldrin walks on the moon. NASA
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When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon, they did what any tourist would do — take hundreds of photos.

A few of these images are more famous than others, like the one of Aldrin with Armstrong reflected in his visor, and the one of Aldrin looking at the American flag.

But people at NASA and contributors to the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal have painstakingly uploaded every single one of the photos from all six moon landings onto the Journal's website and Flickr page.

And what they've done that's really cool is figure out how some of them fit together to assemble larger photos, showing the lunar surface in unprecedented detail.

They even animated a few consecutive photos into GIFs, making you feel like you're on the Moon with Armstrong and Aldrin.

Here are 17 unbelievable constructed panoramas and GIFs from the historic Apollo 11 moon landing.

In this animated GIF of photos of the Earth, it looks like our planet is rising just like the Moon does.

Armstrong and Aldrin took these images out the window of their lander before they walked on the Moon.

better moon landing window pan
NASA

It was important to have something to bring back in case they had to abort the mission.

moon landing window pan
NASA

Source: NASA

You can see how this panorama was stitched together from several photos.

window moon panorama
NASA

Armstrong photographs Aldrin scooting out of the lander.

moon buzz aldrin
NASA

Aldrin prepares to take his first step on the Moon.

buzz moon
NASA

Now that they're on the ground, they can start to explore their surroundings.

moon landing stitch
NASA

They got pretty far away from the lander.

neil took this moon pan
NASA

You can see how flat it is where they landed, compared to large craters nearby.

neil took this pan crater moon
NASA

This is one of the few images taken of Armstrong. You can barely see him close to the lander. Aldrin's shadow is also in the foreground.

super cool moon landing panorama
NASA

Aldrin took this series of photographs that include the American flag and the lander.

moon landing buzz took this pan
NASA

Armstrong photographs Aldrin removing an instrument called the passive seismometer.

buzz seismosoter pan
NASA

Here's a GIF of the same action:

Once they had conducted their experiments and taken many photos, it was finally time to go home. They shot these images out the windows of the lander.

moon lander pan
NASA

Apollo Lunar Surface Journal contributor Bob Farwell even added the image of Armstrong and Aldrin erecting the flag that a camera mounted to the lander took to give a full view of what that looked like.

erecting flag moon
NASA

One last look at the flag before it's time to go.

out window moon pan
NASA

And away the lunar lander launched, back to the Apollo 11 command module (where pilot Michael Collins took this series of photos), and then finally back to Earth.

View the high-resolution originals of these and other images at the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal's website and Flickr page.

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Rebecca was an Executive Editor for Business Insider's news division, overseeing the Science, Speed news, Weekend news, LA news, Visual Features, and Voices of Color desks. She worked across teams to assign, coordinate, and edit breaking news, explainers, features, analysis, and investigations. She also developed guides, trainings, and coaching opportunities for the newsroom to get better every day.Rebecca started as a reporter on Tech Insider's science section in 2015, covering everything from solar energy and rocket launches to Zika, before moving to the news team during the summer of 2016 at the height of the presidential election and then running weekend coverage for 2 years. She's previously worked with the Politics, Military & Defense, and Video teams, and served as an editorial liaison with the product team that powers the CMS.She received her Master's degree from the Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program at New York University, as well as a BS in Biology and a BA in Journalism from the University of Minnesota. Rebecca has also written for Popular ScienceScientific AmericanScienceline, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and the Minnesota Daily.ExpertiseBreaking news, legal analysis, criminal justice, police misconduct, public health, abortion, space, energy, visual features, extreme weather, White House history, voting rights, executive actionsPopular articlesJust don't call it 'climate change': What Republicans in Dallas can teach us about saving the planetWhat Buzz Aldrin was thinking when he left the moonHow the 25th Amendment works to remove a sitting presidentHurricane categories tell only part of the storyTRUMP'S FIRST 100 DAYS: Here's how they compare with Obama's, Bush's, and Clinton's