Earth Photos from Space That'll Leave You Speechless
By Carissa MosnessIn Woman's World
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It’s Earth Day! To celebrate we rounded up the best pictures of our beloved planet. From the first one taken in 1946 to the most recent photos captured by the historic Artemis II crew, these pictures will leave you breathless. And who knows, they might even inspire you to reduce, reuse and recycle to keep our planet healthy! Read on for more.
To the moon and back
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Earth was first photographed on October 24, 1946 by a V-2 rocket that launched from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The photographer zoomed in to get the photo, and it didn’t showcase just how big, wide and round the planet was. Even so, people worldwide were astounded and curious about what else was out there.
Space taken by a satellite
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On August 23, 1966, the United States of America took its first photograph of Earth from lunar distances. It was taken during the first of five Lunar Orbiter spacecraft missions and allowed people to see Earth from far away.
Blue, green and everything in between
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The first photo of Earth taken by a human was released on December 24, 1968, on the Apollo 8 by William “Bill” Anders. It was the first color photo of the planet, allowing people to see what Earth actually looks like from outer space.
“The back side [of the moon] looks like a sand pile my kids have played in for some time. It’s all beat up, no definition, just a lot of bumps and holes,” Anders said, per PBS. “The thing that impressed me the most was the lunar sunrises and sunsets. These in particular bring out the stark nature of the terrain.”
“As Bill put it so well after the conclusion of the Apollo 8 mission, ‘We came all this way to explore the Moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth,’” former NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement following Anders’ 2024 death, per the Seattle Times. “That is what Bill embodied—the notion that we go to space to learn the secrets of the universe yet in the process learn about something else: ourselves. He embodied the lessons and the purpose of exploration.”
Big and blue
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In December 1968, NASA released what is arguably the most famous photo of planet Earth. It was taken during the Apollo 8 mission, the first crewed mission to orbit the Moon. The photo stands out for showcasing just how blue the planet is.
One giant leap for mankind
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The Apollo 11 mission the first time a man landed on the moon and it gave us our first photo of Earth from the moon. During the historic trip to the moon, where the famed “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind” was spoken, Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin took several photos of the planet. Here, one that showcases just how incredible the planet we live on is.
Still going strong
NASA
The most recent photo of Earth was taken by the Artemis II crew earlier this month. It’s the clearest photo we have of Earth thus far and according to NASA it’s going to pave the way for future scientific discoveries.
“It was remarkable listening to the crew describe the stunning views during the flyby,” Jacob Bleacher, NASA’s chief exploration scientist at the agency’s headquarters said in a statement. “At first, their descriptions didn’t quite match what we were seeing on our screens. Now that higher resolution images are coming down, we can finally experience the moments they were trying to share and truly appreciate the scientific return provided by these images and our other research on this mission.”
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