Earthrise is a photograph of Earth and some of the Moon’s surface that was taken from lunar orbit by astronaut William Anders on December 24, 1968, during the Apollo 8 mission.

The Apollo 8 mission did set many world records and did make the astronauts the first humans to leave low-Earth orbit, and to orbit another celestial body. However, one of the most important lasting impacts of the mission was an action performed in 1/250th of a second with an f/11 camera. There are also some black and white images taken by other crew members at the same time.

Described as the most influential environmental photograph ever taken and the beginning of the environmental movement, the Earthrise photo became one of the most transcendent images of the entire Apollo program. On the 50 year anniversary of taking the image, William Anders observed, “We set out to explore the moon and instead discovered the Earth. [1]”

Together with the Blue Marble image taken by Apollo 17, these images provided humanity with an entirely new sense of our place in the universe. Humanity is just 1 species on 1 planet, floating on a planet around the star that we call the sun.

References And Further Reading

[1] = https://www.space.com/42848-earthrise-photo-apollo-8-legacy-bill-anders.html