Please join us as the Leica Store Washington DC and Contact Press Images proudly present: We Choose to go to the Moon by David Burnett. Burnett’s photographs document the launch of the Apollo XI mission and commemorates the 50th anniversary of man’s first steps on the moon.

On July 20, 1969, David Burnett, a Time Magazine photographer at the time, turned his camera away from the rocket and focused on the onlookers to this historic occasion. He captured their excitement and celebration of the day’s events.

“ Looking back on fifty years, there are many things which come to mind; the clothing, antiquated film cameras, transistor radios, enormous automobiles, courtesy and attitudes, patience while waiting at a gas station in the middle of the night to use a solitary restroom, and the absence of cell phones!

As much as Apollo XI became a lodestone for human endeavors in space, the massive gathering that represented the American clan: present and in the moment, there to observe the launching. These pictures leave us with a snapshot of what the country’s tempo was like at the time and how man’s quest for space could captivate, amaze, delight and cause a nation to hold its breath looking skyward.”

David Burnett, 2019