Earthrise photo changed human perspective
On Christmas Eve in 1968, William Anders, aboard the Apollo 8 spacecraft, turned his camera toward Earth and captured a photo that’s now legendary. It was a photo that showed humans a new perspective, with the moon in the foreground and Earth floating in distant space. Anders was killed on Friday, June 7, 2024, when the plane he was piloting alone crashed. AP reported that the plane:
… plummeted into the waters off the San Juan Islands in Washington state. He was 90. His son, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Greg Anders, confirmed the death to The Associated Press. ‘The family is devastated,’ he said. ‘He was a great pilot and we will miss him terribly.’
Anders will not be forgotten because his photo of “Earthrise” helped people realize how small and fragile our planet appears, from a space-based perspective. The photo helped spur the environmental movement of the late ’60s and early ’70s, which has continued to today.
AP reported that NASA Administrator and former Sen. Bill Nelson said on X:
Anders traveled to the threshold of the moon and helped all of us see something else: ourselves.
Earthrise video shows what the astronauts saw
NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio released the video below on the 45th anniversary of the photo now known as “Earthrise.” The position of Apollo 8 and what the astronauts saw through the windows of the spacecraft are recreated and matched with audio from the flight.
You can hear the voices of the Apollo 8 astronauts: Commander Frank Borman and crew members William A. Anders and James A. Lovell. On the astronauts’ fourth orbit of the moon, Borman performed a roll maneuver of their craft, which put them in position to catch the Earth ascending over the lunar horizon. The video relays the exciting moments as they are surprised with the view for the first time and grapple to get color film to capture the momentous photograph, while joking that the image was not part of their schedule.
An iconic moment in history
Dan Rather described the iconic image in his book, What Unites Us. He explains how it captures the peaceful Earth in the darkness of space and what was really happening on the planet at that moment of history:
This image, so peaceful and yet so breathtaking, was taken at the end of a turbulent year. It was Christmas Eve 1968, but from up there you would never know that a hot war was raging in Vietnam or that a Cold War was dividing Europe. You wouldn’t know of the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. or Bobby Kennedy. From that distance, people are invisible, and so are cities, countries, and national boundaries. All that separates us ethnically, culturally, politically, and spiritually is absent from the image. What we see is one fragile planet making its way across the vastness of space.
With the click of a shutter, our spaceship Earth and everyone aboard was captured by the first humans to venture beyond the bounds of Earth’s gravity and give us a better picture of our home.
This is what spacecraft reentry looks like.
A U.S. Air Force ALOTS (Airborne Lightweight Optical Tracking System) camera mounted on a KC-135A aircraft flown at 40,000 ft altitude captured this photo of Apollo 8 reentering Earth's atmosphere on this day in 1968. pic.twitter.com/UzLosEElbK
— National Air and Space Museum (@airandspace) December 27, 2020
Here’s Apollo 8 entering our atmosphere on December 27, 1968.
And 55 years later another iconic sight
Bottom line: captured the iconic “Earthrise” photo on Christmas Eve, 1968. Anders was killed Friday, when the plane he was piloting alone crashed.
Click here to read more details about the NASA visualization.
Deborah Byrd
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About the Author:
Deborah Byrd created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Prior to that, she had worked for the University of Texas McDonald Observatory since 1976, and created and produced their Star Date radio series. Today, she serves as Editor-in-Chief of this website. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named 3505 Byrd in her honor. In 2020, she won the Education Prize from the American Astronomical Society, the largest organization of professional astronomers in North America. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. "Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers," she says.
Kelly Kizer Whitt
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About the Author:
Kelly Kizer Whitt has been a science writer specializing in astronomy for more than two decades. She began her career at Astronomy Magazine, and she has made regular contributions to AstronomyToday and the Sierra Club, among other outlets. Her children’s picture book, Solar System Forecast, was published in 2012. She has also written a young adult dystopian novel titled A Different Sky. When she is not reading or writing about astronomy and staring up at the stars, she enjoys traveling to the national parks, creating crossword puzzles, running, tennis, and paddleboarding. Kelly lives in Wisconsin.
