It’s been fifty years since THIS happened
Fifty-year anniversaries are compiled and celebrated each year from categories such as famous movies, songs, trends, foods and historical happenings. Can you recall a space exploration event that could have just turned 50?
Answer? It was the iconic “Blue Marble” image of earth captured 28,000 miles from home on December 7, 1972 from the Apollo 17 spacecraft that was on its way to the moon. Taken with a Hasselblad camera and Zeiss lens, the world saw it on Christmas Eve.
The awe-inspiring photograph was framed against the black void of space, a unique vantage point for astronauts, which in this case the crew has never revealed who actually clicked the shutter. While the image is a recognizable classic today, it didn’t make front-page news due to coverage of the Vietnam War and the death of former President Harry Truman.
Since Earth Day celebrations began in 1970, the Apollo 17 photo soon became the annual event’s banner image and played an important role in advancing the environmental movement. In the world of space discovery, the image has become associated with philosophy, the value of exploration and the roles that science and technology play in our society.
For a look at other well-known photos from space and a bird’s-eye view of the Apollo 17 mission, click the link below.