RoundupReads How One Image Changed Our World

How One Image Changed Our World

2018-12-11

This is what iconic looks like.

apollo08 earthrise

This “Earthrise” photo, taken by Apollo astronaut William “Bill” Anders, allowed humanity—for the first time—to view their planet not as continents or oceans, but as a world that was beautiful, small and fragile. Even now, 50 years later, the image is still stunning in its implications.

On Dec. 6, NASA Johnson Space Center team members gathered in the Teague Auditorium to view a screening of the “Earthrise” documentary by filmmaker Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee. Following the movie, a panel that included Vaughan-Lee, transdisciplinary artist Erika Blumenfeld, International Space Station Program Scientist for Earth Observations William Stefanov and geoscientist Andrea Meado discussed how Apollo 8 and the Earthrise image impacted environmentalism around the world and human space exploration to come.

The successes and setbacks of the Apollo Program serve as the foundation for the way we conduct and support human spaceflight today … and will in the future. The tasks ahead for Johnson are no less daunting than they were when Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell and Lunar Module Pilot Anders became the first humans to travel beyond low-Earth orbit. In fact, with the Space Launch System, Orion, Commercial Crew vehicles and nascent Gateway Program in the mix, the challenges ahead are approaching quickly.

With Apollo, it may seem that humanity’s greatest leaps have already been taken. However, our beautiful, fragile Earth is only the starting point for excursions deeper into the cosmos—and those next giant leaps start here at Johnson.

 

Apollo 8 Quick Stats

Launched Dec. 21, 1968 and landed Dec. 27, 1968.

Crew: Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders

Firsts:

  • First to see Earth as a whole planet
  • First to enter the gravity well of another celestial body (Earth’s Moon)
  • First to directly see the far side of the Moon
  • First to orbit another celestial body
  • First to escape the gravity of the Moon and re-enter the gravity of Earth
  • First to witness an Earthrise

 

Enjoy more photos from the Apollo 8 50th anniversary event below.

 

Catherine Ragin Williams

NASA Johnson Space Center