One of the most iconic photographs of all time, the above frame was published by NASA in 1972 and is known as the “Blue Marble”. Here’s the fact that this photo turned 50 this week and it still looks just as mesmerizing as it did in 1972.
To celebrate the golden anniversary, NASA tweeted the photo and wrote: “As NASA’s Orion spacecraft continues its journey home, we also celebrate 50 years of the iconic ‘Blue Marble’ Earth photo taken by the Apollo 17 crew on December 7, 1972. We celebrate.”
It is noteworthy that the photo is attributed to the entire Apollo 17 crew rather than one person. The Apollo 17 crew consisted of Mission Commander Eugene Cernan, Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans, and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt. Cernan and Schmitt landed on the Moon with the lunar module. Evans remained in the command and service modules in lunar orbit.
The photo shows Earth from the Mediterranean to Antarctica, and this voyage was the first time the Apollo orbit made it possible to photograph the south polar ice cap. In the upper right part of the picture, a cyclone that emerged in India at that time is also visible.
As @NASA_Orion continues its journey home, we're also celebrating the 50th anniversary of the iconic "Blue Marble" photo of Earth, taken on Dec. 7, 1972 by the crew of Apollo 17.
Get the full-size image: https://t.co/zJMWNl0i63 pic.twitter.com/6ROo8JPDLm
— NASA (@NASA) December 7, 2022
The photo was taken at 5:39, five hours and six minutes after launch. Apollo 17 was the final mission of NASA’s Apollo program. The astronauts returned to Earth on December 19, 1972, after breaking the record for longest manned Moon landing mission at 12 days and 14 hours.
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