BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — Fifty-four years ago, man set foot on the moon for the first time, this after launching from NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

Julian Leek, a Space Coast-based photographer, was there to cover the mission and captured history on film.

A veteran photographer, Leek was witness to the first time Americans launched from Earth and landed on a new world.

Leek has taken thousands upon thousands of pictures in his career. He has seen life through a unique lens, and he's always ready to point and shoot.

"Anywhere I go, it is always in the car," Leek said of his camera.

Leek has lived in Melbourne Beach since the 1960s. He was a young lens-slinger when he was assigned to cover what would become one of the most historic events in human history: the Apollo 11 moon mission in July of 1969.

"What are you doing up here today? 'Oh, we're just going to the moon (sarcastically),' yeah, going to the moon," he recalled. "No, we are going to the moon! This is a really, really big thing."

Leek has memorabilia from the mission, including a model of the lunar lander and service module, an Apollo 11 launch team patch, and, of course, his press pass.

In those days, everything was shot on film, which required a painstaking process of sending it by bus or other means to be processed.

And unfortunately, photographers like Leek don't often get their negatives back.

"I have a lot of history I'd like to get my hands on," he said.

But he did capture the moment when Armstrong took that giant leap.

"Took a picture of a television set of him stepping out of the LEM," he said.

Despite it being his job, Leek will always have the memories of watching Americans land on the moon and the most amazing story he's ever covered.

"Apollo 11 has to be it," Leek said.

Leek is continuing his 50-plus years of photography documenting the NASA Artemis mission as we return to moon to stay.