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Seeing Apollo Through The Eyes Of Astronauts

Five former NASA astronauts who flew on space missions reflect on some of the awe-inspiring photos from Apollo 11, the first lunar landing flight.
The crew of Apollo 11 is picked up after its splashdown.

Fifty years ago, two astronauts became the first humans to set foot on the moon. Like many explorers, they documented their accomplishment in photographs. The images they took are some of the most enduring of the 20th century, traveling from Life magazine to MTV to Twitter.

For most of us, the photos brought back by Apollo 11 are iconic and a little difficult to comprehend. But for astronauts, they represent something more: hours of training, risks taken and the many people on the ground who worked to make the journey possible.

NPR spoke to five former NASA astronauts who flew on space missions to learn how they see these photos.

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