Thousands of Breathtaking Photos of the Apollo Mission Were Just Released

If you could stare at mesmerizing space GIFs and photos all day, you're going to be obsessed with NASA's new release. Thousands of photos — over 8,000, to be exact — taken by astronauts during their visits to the moon between 1969 and 1972 have been posted for the public to see. Dubbed the Project Apollo Archive, the photo gallery offers a truly breathtaking glimpse of the experience with high-res, close-up images.

This archive was created in 1999 by Kipp Teague, a data systems specialist, but these photos were just added to their own Flickr page, so you can easily access them all in one place. Kipp explained that this gallery "is not a NASA undertaking, but an independent one" using "NASA-provided Apollo imagery."

There are countless stunning images for you to explore, but see our 15 picks below. In Kipp's words, these photos help "keep alive the spirit of space exploration and its history."

The Earth in its full beauty.

The Earth in its full beauty.

View from above.

View from above.

Spotted: a foreign object.

Spotted: a foreign object.

Spaceship goals.

Spaceship goals.

Touching down on the moon.

Touching down on the moon.

Focusing.

Focusing.

Making history.

Making history.

Stars and stripes among the stars.

Stars and stripes among the stars.

Perspective.

Perspective.

Astronauts taking selfies before they were a thing.

Astronauts taking selfies before they were a thing.

Lunar close-up.

Lunar close-up.

Details.

Details.

Truly beautiful.

Truly beautiful.