Earthrise: The stunning photo that changed how we see our planet

The Washington Post ^ | December 24, 2018 | Christian Davenport

[EveningStar]

The astronauts had spun around the moon a few times already, their gaze pointed down on the gray, pockmarked lunar surface. But now as they completed another orbit of the moon on Christmas Eve 1968, Frank Borman, the commander of the Apollo 8 mission, rolled the spacecraft, and, soon, there it was.

Earth, this bright, beautiful sphere, alone in the inky vastness of space, a soloist at the edge of the stage suspended in the spotlight.

“Oh, my God,” exclaimed Bill Anders, the lunar module pilot. “Look at that picture over there! There’s the Earth coming up. Wow, is that pretty!”

[brooklin]

Apollo 8 had no LEM. No need for the lem pilot.

[brooklin]

But is she hot?

[brooklin]

If I could give you a like I would.

[SierraWasp]

This picture spawned a whole new man-made fanatical religious cult called "GovernMental EnvironMentalism!" Many extraneous laws, organizations and arbitrary regulations followed from mankind's little minds.

"Man plans and God laughs!" He's nearly ready to re-cycle that beautiful, but sin scarred blue ball to make it a new place for once again immortalized mankind to live sin free, forever!!!

Happy Christmas to all and to all a great Christmas Eve...

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

I gave my son a painting of the Earth as seen from the Moon, painted by Moon Walker Alan Bean and signed by him, Pete Conrad and Dick Gordon, Apollo 12.

Bean, the artist, had the best sense of the awesomeness of space, and his art reflected it. And he was a very nice, gentle human being.

These were extraordinary people who did extraordinary things.
We need more of them today.

[minnesota_bound]

I saw better watching Star Trek episodes. : )

[NorthMountain]

Bad vision is better than no vision at all ...

[2111USMC]

I get by.

I still shoot better than most.

:)

[minnesota_bound]

#35 In some of the photos you can see my reflection in Buzz Aldrin’s visor when I took his photo on the moon landing set in Burbank.

[chimera]

Anders never flew again. He was somewhat of the junior member of the astronaut corps and there were others ahead of him for both CDR and LMP slots. But all three of the Apollo 8 crew earned substantial material wealth in their later endeavors, much more than they would have staying in NASA or the military. Jim Lovell flew Apollo 13, of course, then moved on to work in the telecommunications industry. He foresaw the transition from landline to wireless communications and rode that wave as CEO of various companies. Frank Borman landed in the CEO's chair at Eastern Airlines. Bill Anders did a tour as Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and later its successor agency, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a post he was eminently qualified for since he did a graduate program in Nuclear Engineering at the Air Force Institute of Technology. Following that, he snagged a CEO spot, this time with General Dynamics. Anders retired from the military with the rank of Major General (USAF).

So they all ended up wealthy men, which likely helped assuage any lingering disappointment they may have held from their time as those among the chosen ones who flew in the heavens that the rest of us, in this life, can only gaze at and dream of. All three are still living as of this writing, Lovell and Borman are 90 years old, while Anders is the youngster at 85.

[Lovely-Day-For-A-Guinness]

I remember the photo very well, taken when I was eleven years old.

It happened during my first Christmas without my father, who was in Vietnam as a FAC.

I'd stare at the photo wondering if I could see where I lived and where my father was half a world away.

Of course I couldn't see where he was, but it was good enough for me to imagine I could and that it would do until he finally made it home the following summer.

Fortunately for us, he did return home to a very grateful family but not so to a very turbulent country.

[boop]

"I remember that photo and that it looked nothing like the earth as seen in countless Sci fi flicks."

I've always wondered about that.

Like in Star Trek they encounter another "earth" but it has no clouds.

Did the SciFi guys all think that the earth would look like a barren globe?

That clouds wouldn't show from space?

[Figment]

Not in selfies

[MosesKnows]

Everyone knows Earth is flat

Someone knew several thousands of years ago.

Isaiah 40:22

It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;

[backwoods-engineer]

Nevertheless, there were 3 men aboard the command module on Apollo 8: Frank Borman, Bill Anders, and Jim Lovell. Read before typing stuff like that, will ya? Or at least, watch “From the Earth to the Moon”, episode “1968”.

[backwoods-engineer]

Oh dear Lord, not the fake Flat Earth stuff again. God knows the earth is round— that’s why it says “circle.”

[Grimmy]

Obvious photoshop.

Everyone knows the earth is a flat disc riding on the back of a giant turtle.

[brooklin]

Don’t need to watch a movie about something that I watched happen. There still wasn’a lem attached to Apollo 8. They still put the whole crew in the capsule,but he didn’t get to pilot the lem. Maybe you should read the article too.

[backwoods-engineer]

I can quote the flight log. There was a LEM test article in the Saturn flight stack for Apollo 8. None if the astronauts entered it, because Apollo 8 did not perform the turnaround/docking/extraction sequence. The LEM test article is presently in solar orbit inside the SIVB stage.

[brooklin]

I commented that they didn’t need a lem pilot, since there was no lem on board.He still performed his other duties. 9 tested the lem in earth orbit. 10 tested it down to like 10 miles above the moon, and 11 landed. I was disappointed that Apollo 9 just stayed in earth orbit, had me excited about the moon...