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Daily Pic 07/20/18 (National Moon Day)

NASA

Composite of photographs from the Apollo 15 mission


Today is National Moon Day, commemorating the day in 1969 that Neil Armstrong was the first person to set foot on the moon. Eleven other astronauts have gone on to follow in his bootsteps, including Commander David Scott and Lunar Module Pilot James Irwin, who took these historic photos during the Apollo 15 moon mission in 1971. We’ve stitched together their images to create this composite panorama of the landing site, where they spent three days conducting research. (If only they had selfie sticks back then.) Look for the ‘play’ button on our homepage to hear actual transmissions between the crew and the Mission Control Center in Houston.

Daily Pic 07/20/17

Moon Day
© Matt Cardy/Getty Images

The moon rises over Glastonbury Tor, England



Daily Pic 06/06/18 (85 Years at the Drive-in)

Martha Holmes/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images

Feature Attraction: 85 years at the drive-in

Photo today shows patrons driving through the box office at the Fly-In Drive-In Theater in Wall Township, New Jersey, in 1948. Drive-in movie theaters were a growing trend at the time, so the owners of this spot took advantage of the nearby airstrip and added room for 15 small planes to taxi in and watch the show alongside the autos.

Today marks the anniversary of the first true drive-in theater, opened in 1933 in Pennsauken Township, also in New Jersey, more than an hour’s drive inland from the Fly-In. Drive-in theaters were a popular venue for movie-watching until a sharp decline in business during the 1970s and ‘80s nearly drove the idea to extinction. Some legacy theaters survived, and a small resurgence of the drive-in has brought the experience to a new generation of movie fans. Can we still bring our own snacks?

Daily Pic 05/18/18

Luke Massey/Minden Pictures

It’s Endangered Species Day



We chose this photo of a peregrine falcon—a female, walking across the rail of a balcony in Chicago—to inspire hope on Endangered Species Day. Not every animal listed as endangered is doomed to extinction. Peregrine populations were decimated by the use of pesticides, such as DDT, in the mid-20th century. The chemicals accumulated in the birds’ bodies, causing weak eggshells and high mortality rates for chicks. But by the 1980s humans had learned the cause, reduced or eliminated the various chemicals, and helped the birds rebound with gusto.