The First Photograph of Earth Taken From Space Is 75 Years Old

The Soviets may have launched the first satellite into orbit; but it was American scientists and researchers in New Mexico who took the first photo from space. Soldiers and scientists in the White Sands Missile Range succeeded in taking the first images of the Earth from space by launching a V-2 missile carrying a 35 millimeter camera into space on October 24, 1946.

These images, taken from an altitude of about 105 km, slightly above the accepted outer space origin; wrapped in a steel cassette, it managed to survive the crash landing unscathed. However, this success does not mean that this is the first time that the Earth’s curvature has been observed. In 1935, 11 years before the launch of the V-2 missile, the Explorer II balloon reached an altitude of about 22 km and observed the global horizon.

Photography has evolved along with space exploration.

After WWII, the US Army fired dozens of confiscated V-2 German missiles to improve American missile defense. During this time, researchers equipped some missiles with scientific instruments to be suitable for atmospheric studies. Between 1946 and 1950, more than 1,000 images were obtained from space, some taken at altitudes as high as 160 km.

Photography has also evolved over time as part of space exploration. Today, astronauts are trained in photography as well as how to conduct scientific experiments on the International Space Station (ISS).

These first images from space were described in a 1950 National Geographic article as “how our Earth would appear to visitors from another planet in a spaceship.” Decades after the first images, Apollo 8 astronauts; They captured another very famous image of Earth. This new image of Earth was a reminder of how far humanity has come in such a short time.

In the near future, space telescopes such as the James Webb Telescope will be able to take much more detailed pictures. Let’s take a brief look at the history of space photography, 73 years after the launch of the V-2 rocket.

First photograph from space, 1946

First television image of Earth from space and first weather satellite image, 1960

The world’s first full-disc color pictures, 1967

The Blue Marble, 1972

First full disc painting of Earth and Moon, 1977

First view of Earth from beyond the Solar System planets, The Pale Blue Dot, 1990

First view of Earth from Saturn, 2006

Another view from Saturn: The Day Earth Smiled, 2013