Happy Birthday, ‘Earthrise’

Forty years ago today, the Apollo 8 astronauts, the first humans to orbit the Moon, were taken by surprise. After three orbits spent photographing the lunar surface, Frank Borman shifted the orientation of the capsule to see the horizon. Suddenly, Bill Anders realized he was seeing the home planet hovering over the lunar horizon in what was, in essence, the first human-witnessed “Earthrise.”

“Oh my God,” Anders exclaimed. “Look at that picture over there. Here’s the Earth coming up!” . . .

I assembled the video above to memorialize that moment. (Make sure to click the “watch in high quality” button.) It includes extraordinary footage showing an “earthrise” and “earthset” videotaped during a Japanese lunar mission in 2007. The footage is probably old hat to space buffs but new to me.

Reflecting on Apollo 8, it’s notable to me that, with all the meticulous planning that goes into space missions, no one had anticipated the emotional and aesthetic power that came with seeing the marbled white, blue, and green home planet rise above the sterile gray lunar horizon. They had to grab for film packs to take the resulting photographs, one of which has become one of the most widely published images in history.

Dot Earth Blog – NYTimes.com

Those of you too young to remember that Christmas Eve 40 years may not appreciate fully the awe and wonder felt by many of us earthlings.