The famous 'Earthrise' photo, showing Earth appearing at the lunar horizon. (NASA)

Forty-six years ago today, July 20, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins made history by becoming the first human beings to set foot on the moon. The crew launched July 16, 1969, landing on the lunar surface on July 20 and crashing into the Pacific Ocean on July 24.

While the crew performed important science, they had another — and some would argue, just as important — mission: documenting the first trip to an alien surface. They brought with them a 70mm , designed specifically for astronauts to use in space. They also took advantage of on-board cameras and a special camera used to take photos of the moon.

Many of the images, like the unforgettable Earth-rise, are historic and well known. But the crew and other NASA employees ultimately took thousands of photos of this and other Apollo missions, from astronaut training and suit preparation to mission control and launch to moon landing and back.

Earlier in 2015, photos of a different type came to light, images of the contents of the McDivitt Purse recovered from Armstrong’s home by his widow, Carol, and donated to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. “It is hard to imagine ,” said Allan Needell of the Smithsonian’s Space History Department, in a blog post. One of the items happened to be a 16mm movie camera with a 10mm lens. “The camera was mounted behind the right forward window of the lunar module and was used to film the final phase of the descent to the lunar surface, the landing [and] Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s activities on the lunar surface, including taking the first samples of lunar soil and planting the U.S. flag,” notes a release from the NASA’s Apollo 11 .

NASA’s history division is tasked with cataloguing scans of the original photos, which the division has compiled into a that also serves as a play-by-play of the entire mission.

Click through the slideshow above to see some hidden gems from the Apollo 11 collection.

MORE FROM WEATHER.COM: