[Lunar orbiter I] Extremely rare Crescent Earthrise: the second photograph of Planet...

[Lunar orbiter I] Extremely rare Crescent Earthrise: the second photograph of Planet Earth ever taken. NASA, 24 August 1966. Printed 1966. Vintage gelatin silver print on fiber-based paper [NASA image LRC I-117H2]. 20.3×25.4 cm (8×10 in), blank on the verso.

A truly extraordinary photograph of great rarity. Following Lunar Orbiter I first Earth image the preceding day, this mesmerizing photograph gave to humans the second view of their Home Planet as a globe in space, from the vantage point of another world.

[original NASA Headquarters caption for the photograph] The second view of the Earth taken by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Lunar Orbiter I spacecraft. The view of the crescent Earth was made about midnight EDT, on August 24, when the spacecraft was in its 27th photographic orbit of the Moon. As the photograph was made, the spacecraft was just about to disappear behind the eastern edge of the Moon. The picture was received at NASA’s Woomera, Australia, tracking station during final readout of the Lunar Orbiter photography. The Earth appears on the left in this photograph. Much of the Earth’s crescent is clouded, covering the Antarctic continent near the bottom and areas of the Indian Ocean above. Lunar Orbiter is a project of NASA’s Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia.

Condition Report:Excellent condition.

Category:Photos ▸ Vintage photographs