The Moon landing at 50 - in pictures

It happened five decades ago, but the achievements of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins and the US space programme remain, as the country's military might say, outstanding

The Apollo 11 lunar landing mission crew with, from left, mission commander Neil A. Armstrong, command module pilot Michael Collins and lunar module pilot Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. pose in their space suits. NASA / EPA

From right, Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin walk to the van that will take the crew to the launchpad at Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida. AP Photo

The 363-feet tall Saturn V rocket carrying the Apollo 11 launches from its pad in Cape Canaveral, USA. NASA / EPA

Earth as the Apollo 11 mission heads to the moon. NASA / AP

Flight controllers at the Space Center in Houston, Texas, USA, as the Apollo 11 mission's lunar landing module descends to the surface of the moon on July 20, 1969. NASA / EPA

Earthrise viewed from the Apollo 11 mission's lunar landing module Eagle prior to its landing. NASA / EPA

The 'Eagle' lunar landing module in landing configuration in lunar orbit taken by service module 'Columbia' commander Collins. NASA / EPA

Aldrin descends a ladder from the Lunar Module during the Apollo 11 mission. NASA / AP

Astronaut Aldrin walks on the moon in an iconic image taken by Armstrong. NASA / EPA

Aldrin's boot and footprint in lunar soil. NASA / EPA

Aldrin deploys the Passive Seismic Experiment Package. NASA / EPA

One of the first steps taken on the Moon. NASA / EPA

Armstrong works near the lunar landing module. NASA / EPA

Aldrin stands besides a lunar seismometer. NASA / EPA

Crater 308 on the moon viewed from orbit. NASA / EPA

Armstrong sits inside the Lunar Module after he and Buzz Aldrin completed their extravehicular activity on the surface of the moon. NASA / AP

Navy UDT swimmer Clancy Hatleberg prepares to jump from a helicopter to assist the astronauts into the raft at right. US Navy / AP

President Richard Nixon gives an "OK" sign as he greets Apollo 11 astronauts in a quarantine van aboard the USS Hornet. AP Photo

US soldiers read a newspaper headlining the Apollo 11 moon landing, in downtown Saigon, Vietnam. AP Photo

People line 42nd Street in New York to cheer Apollo 11 astronauts traveling towards the United Nations. AP Photo

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