Nasa is celebrating 50 years of space exploration - which has taken the American space agency up into the Earth's orbit, on to the Moon, and deep into our Solar System.

That journey has produced many iconic images - from the Apollo moon landings, to the space shuttle missions, and the colourful pictures beamed back from the Hubble Space Telescope.

Here, space writer and historian Piers Bizony recalls some of Nasa's defining moments:

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