INTERACTIVE:

Click to see Apollo Moon images

July 20, 1999
Web posted at: 2:59 p.m. EDT (1859 GMT)

(CNN) -- They are arguably the photographs of the millennium, images recorded by the men who took the first tentative steps off this planet.

For some the photographs may represent the aspirations of a generation responding to a young leader's inspiring call to duty. For others the photographs -- those of Earth taken from the Moon -- brought home the realization that this planet they call home is not necessarily a renewable resource.

And for many -- especially those millions of children who gathered around televisions in their classroom to watch the lift-off of Apollo 11 -- the images may teach that voyages are meant to be taken, challenges are supposed to be difficult, success does come after the blood, sweat and tears.

These images -- taken by astronauts -- come from "Full Moon," a new book by Michael Light, who spent five years digging through NASA's archive of 32,000 lunar mission photographs to create a record of our earliest visits to the Moon. Published by Knopf, the book is printed on high-quality paper intended, perhaps, to be a keepsake for anyone who might have wandered out into their back yard 30 years ago to gaze at the Moon and realize that dreams do come true.