Earthrise December 24, 1968

Forty-five years ago, in December of 1968, the Apollo 8 crew flew from the Earth to the Moon and back again. Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders were launched atop a Saturn V rocket on Dec. 21, circled the Moon ten times in their command module, and returned to Earth on Dec. 27. The Apollo 8 mission’s impressive list of firsts includes: the first humans to journey to the Earth’s Moon, the first to fly using the Saturn V rocket, and the first to photograph the Earth from deep space. As the Apollo 8 command module rounded the far side of the Moon on Dec. 24, the crew could look toward the lunar horizon and see the Earth appear to rise, due to their spacecraft’s orbital motion. Their famous picture of a distant blue Earth above the Moon’s limb was a marvelous gift to the world. Image Credit: NASA

VIIRS Blue Marble Image taken January 2 2012

While were a long way from having man on the Moon again we do have the now iconic Blue Marble taken by the S-NPP satellite VIIRS instrument in 2012. There are currently no firm plans for the U.S. to put man on the Moon again but the capability will be there once the Space Launch System is ready in 2030.