{"id":14127,"date":"2012-01-24T12:08:00","date_gmt":"2012-01-24T12:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amateurphotographer.co.uk\/uncategorized\/earthrise-from-the-moon-by-william-anders-iconic-photograph-14127"},"modified":"2014-10-23T11:30:10","modified_gmt":"2014-10-23T10:30:10","slug":"earthrise-from-the-moon-by-william-anders-iconic-photograph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/iconic-images\/earthrise-from-the-moon-by-william-anders-iconic-photograph\/","title":{"rendered":"Earthrise from the Moon by William Anders – Iconic Photograph"},"content":{"rendered":"

Image: The famous ‘Earthrise’ view that greeted the Apollo 8 astronauts as they came from behind the Moon after their fourth orbit \u00a9 NASA<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In 1961, President John F Kennedy confidently announced a
\nnational ambition that excited the world. \u2018I believe,’ he declared, \u2018that this
\nnation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out,
\nof landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.’ After
\nyears of work by US scientists and astronauts, that goal came much closer with the Apollo 8 mission in 1968.
\n <\/p>\n


\nBy this time, the Cold War \u2018Space Race’ between the USA and the Soviet Union
\nwas intensifying. The Soviets had launched several Zond spacecraft, and in September
\n1968 Zond 5 had made a successful journey around the Moon and back to Earth.
\nNASA scientists, anxious not to be beaten in the race to the Moon, responded by
\ndeclaring that Apollo 8 would be the first manned flight in lunar orbit.
\n <\/p>\n


\nThe three-man crew consisted of mission Commander Frank Borman, Command Module
\nPilot James Lovell and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders. The three men, on
\nboard a Saturn V rocket, launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on 21 December 1968.<\/p>\n

<\/img><\/p>\n

Image: Apollo 8 crew members (l-r): James Lovell, William Anders and Frank Borman \u00a9 NASA<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Recording both still and moving images of the Earth and the Moon from the
\nspacecraft were an essential part of the mission. Around 30 hours into the
\nflight, the crew used a lightweight television camera to broadcast images back
\nto Earth in black & white. They showed the expectant millions of viewers
\nthe inside of the spacecraft and their first basic images of the Earth.
\n <\/p>\n


\nIn the second broadcast, 15 hours later, the crew was able to shoot much more
\ndetailed moving images of the Earth by using a telephoto lens on the film
\ncamera. Filters were used to prevent the bright light being reflected from the
\nEarth burning out details of the surface.
\n <\/p>\n


\nThe crew was also equipped with two Hasselblad 70mm still cameras and stocks of
\nboth black & white and colour film. As the spacecraft entered lunar orbit,
\nWilliam Anders photographed the Moon’s arid surface while a film camera
\nautomatically recorded moving images.
\n <\/p>\n


\nDuring the fourth orbit, on 24 December, Borman looked out and saw the Earth
\nappearing from behind the Moon; it had been previously photographed by unmanned
\nrobot spacecraft, but this was the first time it had been witnessed by humans.
\n <\/p>\n


\nHe said to the others, \u2018Oh my God. Look at that picture over there. Here’s the
\nEarth coming up. Wow! That is pretty.’<\/p>\n


\n <\/p>\n

It’s thought that at this point Borman
\nshot a black & white image of the scene with the Earth poised just above
\nthe Moon’s surface. <\/p>\n

<\/img><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Image: The moon from lunar orbit, with planet Earth rising over the horizon
\n\u00a9 NASA<\/strong><\/em>
\n \n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Anders joked, \u2018Hey, don’t take that, it’s not scheduled.’ He then added, \u2018Hand
\nme that roll of colour, quick.’ After a brief scramble to find the film, Anders
\nshot a colour photograph using a 250mm lens.
\n <\/p>\n


\nThe photograph showed the Earth as a blue planet, partially covered by white
\nswirling shapes of clouds, standing out against the black backdrop of space. It
\ncontrasted strongly with the grey lunar surface, which Borman described as \u2018a
\nvast, lonely, forbidding expanse of nothing.’ He later commented that seeing
\nthe Earth was \u2018the most beautiful, heart-catching sight of my life, one that
\nsent a torrent of nostalgia, of sheer homesickness, surging through me.’
\n <\/p>\n


\nAnders shot two similar \u2018Earthrise’ images before the spacecraft’s orbit made
\nit impossible to photograph the Earth and Moon in the same frame with the
\n250mm. He changed to an 80mm lens to photograph the scene, but the wider angle
\nof view also included parts of the spacecraft and these images were not
\nsuccessful.
\n <\/p>\n


\nAnders’ photograph was shot with the Moon’s surface shown vertically on the
\nright of the frame and the Earth to the left, but it is often shown with the
\nMoon at the bottom of the frame and the Earth above it.
\n <\/p>\n


\nDuring the mission, the crew orbited the Moon ten times during a 20-hour
\nperiod. They shot 865 images, 589 of which were on black & white film as,
\nat the time, it was capable of recording images of greater clarity and detail.
\n <\/p>\n


\nThe three-man crew returned to Earth on 27 December. They had become the first
\npeople to enter the gravitational field of another celestial body, the first to
\nsee the far side of the Moon and the first to see the Earth as a whole planet.
\nTheir work paved the way for the later missions, including Apollo 11’s seven
\nmonths later, during which men walked on the Moon for the first time.
\n <\/p>\n


\nAnders’ colour \u2018Earthrise’ photograph was looked at with wonder around the
\nworld; it gave a new perspective on the planet at a time of great social and
\npolitical unrest, and soon became regarded as one of the most iconic images of
\nthe century. Looking back on the mission, Anders said his most memorable
\nexperience was seeing the new perspective on the Earth that his photograph
\ncaptured.
\n <\/p>\n


\n\u2018When I looked up and saw the Earth coming up on this very stark, beat-up lunar
\nhorizon, an Earth that was the only colour we could see, a very fragile-looking
\nEarth, a very delicate-looking Earth, I was immediately almost overcome by the
\nthought that here we came all this way to the Moon and yet the most significant
\nthing we’re seeing is our own home planet.’
\n \n<\/p>\n

Events of 1968<\/h2>\n