Apollo 17

Our iconic "Blue Marble" Planet Earth

NASA engineers named the historic image -- AS17-148-22727

As we have been recalling the history, we haven't had returned to us a 'whole earth' image since 1972. Today, the Associated Press reports Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Florida, pointing out from Washington that there hasn't been a "full, sunlit picture of the Earth since Apollo 17 in 1972 - NASA's last manned moon-landing mission". Subsequent images "have been stitched together", the Senator explained, for composite shots. The Florida Senator has an exceptional point of view re: this amazing fact, as he was an astronaut who flew on the Space Shuttle from Florida's "Space Coast". In January 1986, Nelson spent six days orbiting Earth as a payload specialist aboard space shuttle Columbia. His NASA bio adds "The experience gave him a new perspective on the Earth’s fragile environment and a greater appreciation of the importance of our nation’s space exploration program."