File:Apollo Earth 350x350.jpg

NASA

"Earthrise"

"The most influential environmental photograph ever taken." -- Galen Rowell

... Suddenly and surprisingly the Earth appeared rising outside the Apollo spaceship's window

• http://www.abc.net.au/science/moon/earthrise.htm

NASA

"The Apollo 8 mission's Earthrise photograph of 1968 and the Apollo 17 'Blue Marble' photograph of 1972 between them frame the first-generation US space programme.

They represent the beginning and the summit of whole Earth awareness. While the Earthrise showed the Earth in space, 'Blue marble' showed the Earth alone. Filling the frame, centered on Africa (mankind's place of origin), and looking both alone and alive, its message was not 'space' but 'home'.

The Apollo mission was a record of a particular historical moment: with Apollo 17, humankind's last trip (to date) beyond Earth's orbit..."

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