Friday, August 26, 2011

It was 45 years ago today ....

The world's first view of Earth taken by a spacecraft from the vicinity of the moon. The photo was transmitted to Earth by the United States Lunar Orbiter I and received at the NASA tracking station near Madrid. This crescent of the Earth was photographed August 23, 1966 when the spacecraft was on its 16th orbit and just about to pass behind the moon.

Lots of people are familiar with the later, color version, taken by the Apollo astronauts a few years later. The emotional impact of the more famous image -- a blue/living planet set again the black/lifeless moon -- is undeniably greater ... but this is the original.

No comments:

Post a Comment