4. NASA Photos from Space
Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps will be bringing a selection of original NASA photographs, including the photo seen above taken during the Apollo 8 mission to the moon in December 1968. That mission, crewed by astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders, marked the first time a crewed spacecraft orbited the Moon.
This photograph was taken by Apollo 8 Lunar Module Pilot William Anders. It captures a phenomenon called “earthrise,” where the Earth appears to be rising as we usually see the sun or moon rise from our planetary vantage point. The image was captured as the spacecraft came around from the far side of the moon in its third orbit. The historic image offers a powerful change in perspective and left a lasting imprint on Anders who said, “We’d spent most of our time on Earth training about how to study the Moon, how to go to the Moon; it was very lunar oriented. And yet, when I looked up and saw the Earth coming up on this very stark, beat up lunar horizon, and Earth that was the only color that we could see, a very fragile looking Earth, a very delicate looking Earth, I was immediately almost overcome by the thought that here we came all this way to see the Moon, and yet the most significant thing we’re seeing is our own home planet, the Earth.”
