Epic Historic Photos That We’ll Never Live Up To

1. This group of workers suspended from the cables of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1914.

2. W.H. Murphy and his associate demonstrating their bulletproof vest in 1923.

3. Gladys Roy and Ivan Unger playing a game of tennis on the wings of a biplane above Los Angeles in 1925.

4. This group of officials posing for a portrait during the construction of the Hoover Dam in 1935.

5. Nineteen-year-old Russian sniper Roza Shanina after 54 confirmed Nazi kills during World War II.

Roza Shanina took up the call to arms after her 19-year-old brother was killed during the Siege of Leningrad in December 1941. She was killed in battle at the age of 20 in 1945.

6. A London milkman sticking to his schedule despite the German bombing raid in 1940.

7. This PoW defiantly confronting Heinrich Himmler during an inspection in 1940-1941.

8. August Landmesser refusing to perform the Nazi salute at a crowded rally.

After the completion of a Nazi warship in 1936, shipbuilder August Landmesser defiantly crossed his arms in protest as the others around him saluted. His partner, a Jewish woman named Irma Eckler, would eventually be sent to a concentration camp, while Landmesser was forced into military service. He later went missing in action and is believed to have been killed in combat.

9. U.S. military raising the American flag on Iwo Jima in February, 1945.

Three of the Marines depicted in this picture were killed in the following days. Despite the danger of a hostile conflict zone, the picture was so perfectly framed that it has led to debates over whether the shot was actually posed by the photographer.

10. Red Army soldiers hoisting a hammer-and-sickle flag over the Reichstag in Berlin, 1945.

11. Rosa Parks’s mugshot in 1955 after refusing to give up her seat on a public bus to a white passenger.

12. The Little Rock Nine being followed and threatened by an angry white mob in 1957.

Elizabeth Eckford, of what became known as “The Little Rock Nine”, was one of the first African-American students to ever attend classes at Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.

13. This doctor who was forced to perform surgery on himself as the only surgeon on staff.

In April 1961, a Russian doctor named Leonid Rogozov had developed appendicitis while stationed in Antarctica. As the only surgeon on staff, he was forced to operate on himself.

14. Martin Luther King Jr. after delivering his “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963.

15. Muhammad Ali after dropping Sonny Liston in 1965.

The bout lasted only one minute into the first round.

16. The Black Power salute of gold medallist Tommie Smith and bronze medalist John Carlos during the 1968 Summer Olympic Games.

17. Neil Armstrong on the verge of tears after first stepping on the Moon in July, 1969.

18. Philippe Petit walking across a tightrope between the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers in 1974.

19. This lone man standing against a convoy of tanks heading to Tiananmen Square in 1989.

20. This sign of patriotism and perseverance in the face of terrorism on September 11th, 2001.

21. This farmer spraying milk at police forces during a protest against falling milk prices, at the EU Headquarters in 2009.

22. NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson peering out the window of the International Space Station in 2010.

23. This couple kissing in Vancouver’s streets amid riots, following the Stanley Cup Finals in 2011.

24. This adorable pair who were the first same-sex couple to marry at Manhattan’s City Clerk’s Office 2011.

Phyllis Siegel and Connie Kopelov tied the knot on July 24, 2011.

25. This man offering motivational music during a battle in Sirte, Libya, against forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

26. Felix Baumgartner moments before his historic jump to Earth from the stratosphere in October, 2012.