By Mark Rhodes

Alan Bean at Sharp Crater with the Handtool Carrier. Michael Light, from the project FULL MOON, 1999 Photographed by Charles Conrad, Apollo 12, Nov. 14-24, 1969It is likely that most associate The American Museum of Natural History with dinosaurs, the jaw- dropping habitat dioramas, and the 94-foot-long blue whale that looms in the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life. There is good reason for this, as these are iconic treasures in the museum’s collection that have helped educate and fascinate museum goers about the natural wonders of this world in generations past and no doubt for generations to come. 

What some might be unaware of is the fact that the museum also celebrates wonders beyond  this world. At present, the American Museum of Natural History has an exhibit entitled “Full Moon: Apollo Mission Photographs of the Lunar Landing.” In this exhibit, Artist Michael Light has curated and digitally processed photos that the Astronauts took during the Apollo missions. The public is aware of only a handful of the more than 30,000 photographs taken as part of the scientific exploration that was the Apollo program. The result is moving and the most striking and intimate images of space exploration the public has ever seen.