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The photographs of Neil Armstrong taking his ‘small step for man’ from Apollo 11 are instantly recognisable and some of the most famous in the world.

But there are equally stunning images from Nasa’s Apollo missions that are not so familiar and are so perfect, they look like stills from a sci-fi film.

More than 8,400 photographs from Nasa’s moon missions have been uploaded to Flickr in high resolution, and offer a fresh look at the lunar landings – including Buzz Aldrin’s less than graceful descent onto the moon’s surface.

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The photographs of Neil Armstrong taking his ‘small step for man’ from Apollo 11 are instantly recognisable (one is shown), but there are also more unusual ones among Nasa's Apollo archive taken by astronauts using chest-mounted Hasselblad cameras

The first manned mission to the moon was Apollo 8, which circled around the moon on Christmas Eve in 1968, but it was the moment Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the surface of the moon on July 20, 1969, that was Nasa’s crowning achievement of the 1960s.

Photographs presumably taken by Armstrong show Aldrin exiting from the Apollo Lunar Module and they capture the difficulty of climbing out from a small opening and descending a ladder in zero gravity.

More familiar images from various missions show famous footprints and magical views of Earth, while others offer a more surprising glimpse of the lunar landscape, with astronauts collecting samples from boulders larger than themselves and travelling across the satellite's bleak hilly terrain.

Photographs presumably taken by Neil Armstrong show Buzz Aldrin exiting from the Apollo Lunar Module (pictured) and they capture the difficulty of climbing out from a small opening and descending a ladder in zero gravity, onto the surface of the moon

Buzz Aldrin set foot on the Moon at 03:15:16 (UTC) on July 21, 1969, following mission commander Neil Armstrong. Here, he attempts to climb down the ladder of the lander, seemingly struggling in the strange conditions on the moon

It was the moment Neil Armstrong became the first man to land on the moon on July 20, 1969, that was Nasa’s crowning achievement. The image on the left shows the service module and on the right, is the flag planted on the moon as part of the historic mission

Over the course of the Apollo missions, 12 astronauts walked on the moon and as well as conducting experiments, took some incredible photographs using specially-adapted Hasselblad cameras. This shot is from the Apollo 11 landings and shows the carrying of equipment

Over the course of the Apollo missions, 12 astronauts walked on the moon and as well as conducting experiments, took some incredible photographs using specially-adapted Hasselblad cameras.

The originals are preserved and enthusiasts have made digital copies in high resolution of 1,800dpi, to allow us to see lunar details as never before.

Kipp Teague, who runs the Apollo Archive told The Planetary Society that the process to archive every photo taken of the moon taken by astronauts using their chest-mounted Hasselblad cameras, and extra taken from Earth and lunar orbit as part of the missions, has been a long one.

Over the course of the Apollo missions, 12 astronauts walked on the moon and as well as conducting experiments. This photograph shows one of the famous footprints left on the moon as part of the Apollo 11 mission, with the astronaut's boot in shot

Kipp Teague, who runs the Apollo Archive said the process to archive every photo taken of the moon taken by astronauts and extra taken from Earth and lunar orbit as part of the missions, has been a long one. This shot shows the lunar surface on the Apollo 11 mission

The first manned mission to the moon was Apollo 8, which circled around the moon on Christmas Eve in 1968. Apollo 8 did not land on the moon, but orbited it and came back to Earth. The crew was Frank Borman, Bill Anders and Jim Lovell who took these photos

More familiar images from various missions show famous footprints and magical views of Earth, while others offer a more surprising glimpse of the lunar landscape, with astronauts collecting samples from huge boulders (pictured) and travelling across hilly terrain

‘Around 2004, Johnson Space Center began re-scanning the original Apollo Hasselblad camera film magazines, and Eric Jones and I began obtaining TIFF (uncompressed, high-resolution) versions of these new scans on DVD,’ he said.

‘These images were processed for inclusion on our websites, including adjusting color and brightness levels, and reducing the images in size to about 1000 dpi (dots per inch) for the high-resolution versions.’

It’s now possible to see iconic footprints, craters, flags, lander and the astronauts themselves in the sharpest of detail.

Medium format Hasselblads were used to capture impressive detail in the first place, because the film they use is three is four times as large as a standard 35mm frame, The Verge reported.

It is easy to think of the moon as having a relatively gentle, sloping landscape with the occasional small rock, but in fact, some boulders are larger than the astronauts. This image from the Apollo 16 mission shows one astronaut taking a sample from a huge rock

It’s now possible to see iconic footprints, craters, flags, lander and the astronauts themselves in the sharpest of detail and well as dreamy images taken of Earth. This one is snapped though the window of the Apollo 16 craft and shows swirling clouds