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It was Forty Years Ago Today!
Dec. 24th, 2008 09:45 am
(Courtesy of Astronomy Picture of the Day (and thanks for a reminder by James Nicoll)
40 years ago today Apoll 8 reached lunar orbit, becoming the first manned spacecraft to leave Earth's gravitational field, and orbit around another celestial body. While they were there, the astronauts became the first people to see the far side of the moon, and the first people to see Earth from orbit around another celestial body. While they were there, they took pictures such as this:
Oddly enough, this flight helped the environmental movement; the image of the earth rising above the dead surface of the moon, "a vast, lonely, forbidding expanse of nothing", was a graphic example of the smallness of Earth and the fragility of life on it, and was taken as an icon for Earth Day.
It's strange that we had to go to another world to see Earth as a whole, but the sentiments of the Apollo 8 crew in their Christmas broadcast are to my mind a perfect for the season, beacause of the larger unity they imply
"And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, and a Merry Christmas to all of you, all of you on the good Earth".
40 years ago today Apoll 8 reached lunar orbit, becoming the first manned spacecraft to leave Earth's gravitational field, and orbit around another celestial body. While they were there, the astronauts became the first people to see the far side of the moon, and the first people to see Earth from orbit around another celestial body. While they were there, they took pictures such as this:
Oddly enough, this flight helped the environmental movement; the image of the earth rising above the dead surface of the moon, "a vast, lonely, forbidding expanse of nothing", was a graphic example of the smallness of Earth and the fragility of life on it, and was taken as an icon for Earth Day.
It's strange that we had to go to another world to see Earth as a whole, but the sentiments of the Apollo 8 crew in their Christmas broadcast are to my mind a perfect for the season, beacause of the larger unity they imply
"And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, and a Merry Christmas to all of you, all of you on the good Earth".