The Blue Marble photograph is one of the most iconic images of Earth. Taken on Dec. 7, 1972, the Apollo 17 crew captured the photo on their way to the moon. Interestingly, though, it was not the first image taken of our planet.
The first was taken from the moon by Lunar Orbiter 1 on Aug. 23, 1966. It is a grainy black-and-white image that shows half of Earth enveloped by night.
Two years later, on Christmas Eve, 1968, William Anders took another iconic image of Earth, largely known as Earthrise, aboard the Apollo 8 mission. The crew happened upon Earthrise as they were orbiting the moon, photographing the lunar surface. The image was composed similarly to the 1966 photograph, with the moon’s surface at the forefront of the image and Earth peeking through the night. Anders used a Hasselblad 500 EL attached with a 250 mm lens to first capture Earthrise in black-and-white and then borrowed color film from his fellow crew member James Lovelle to shoot the same image in color.
Over the years, images of Earth have become clearer and more colorful, but all the same they show the beauty of our planet. Click through the slideshow above to view how images of Earth have improved over time.
