Seeing Earth from space is an unforgettable experience. It is something soothing, beautiful and inspiring. Let's hope that in the near future many, and not just a select few, will be able to enjoy the view of our home planet from space. Until we have such an opportunity, we have to be content with breathtaking photographs like the ten that are included in this collection.

(Total 11 photos)

1. Earth from a distance of 4 billion miles from Voyager 1 (luminous dot in the center of the right glare). This photograph is an enlarged portion of one of the 16 frames that make up a panoramic view of the solar system. (NASA)

2. The most detailed view of the Earth for 2002, collected by a team of specialists from many frames made over many months. Most of the data was collected by the MODIS probe from the Terra research satellite. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Image by Reto Stockli)

3. Earth Rise. The picture was taken from the Apollo 11 in 1969 during the first manned flight and landing on the moon. (NASA)

4. The first shot of the Earth and the Moon in one frame. It was taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft from a distance of 11.66 million kilometers from Earth. (NASA)

5. Terminator line on the surface of the Earth, the picture was taken during the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. (NASA)

7. View of the Earth and the Moon from Mars. The first ever photograph of the Earth from another planet, taken by the Mariner 10 probe. (SA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems)

8. Earthrise, view from the dark side of the moon. Photo taken from Apollo 16, 1972. The first photographs of the dark side of the Moon were taken by the Soviet apparatus Luna-3 in 1959. Man saw her for the first time with my own eyes in 1968 from the Apollo 8. (NASA)

9. Astronaut from the crew of "Apollo 17" sets the flag on the surface of the moon, 1972. The mission, which lasted 504 hours, made it possible to bring 117 kg of soil samples from the Moon and carry out in-depth geological exploration. (NASA)

10. Crescent Earth above the lunar horizon. Photo from the Apollo 15, 1971. During this lunar mission, the MRV rover, capable of speeds up to 16 km / h, was used for the first time.

11. Water is everywhere on our planet - from earth's crust to our cells. Water in the oceans and in the atmosphere. In the form of liquid or ice, it covers 75% of the planet's surface. The total volume of water on Earth is estimated at 1.39 billion cubic kilometers, and 96.5% of this volume is in the oceans. (NASA Earth Observatory)

In October 2014, the Chinese Chang'e 5-T1 probe transmitted a beautiful photograph to Earth, which shows. Astronomy in Russian offers a selection of photographs of the Earth and the Moon from space taken by various spacecraft.

Earth and far side of the Moon from Chang'e 5-T1. Source: CNSA

Of course it's not full list similar photos. Here we have included those that, in our opinion, are the most remarkable.

"Lunar Orbiter-1"


Earth from the orbit of the Moon on August 23, 1966. Source: NASA

The first photograph in the history of the Earth from the orbit of the Moon was photographed by the American spacecraft Lunar Orbiter-1 on August 23, 1966. The original image was lost along with the "hard landing" of the device on the lunar surface, and all that remains is a recording on magnetic tape. However, the film data was later digitized and the photograph was improved.

Apollo 8


Earth rising over the lunar horizon. Source: NASA

Perhaps the most famous photograph of the Earth from lunar orbit. The picture was taken by the Apollo 8 crew on December 24, 1968. Apollo 8 is the first manned spaceship reaching the orbit of the moon.


Photo from spacecraft "Zond-7"

This series of photographs was taken by the Zond-7 spacecraft during its flyby of the Moon on August 9, 1969. The second photo from the left is actually a montage that fills in a moment that was missed during the shoot.

"Zond-8"


The Soviet spacecraft Zond-8 flew around the Moon on October 24, 1970. During this maneuver, about a hundred photographs of the Moon were taken, including 17 images of the Earth "hanging" above the lunar horizon.

"Kaguya"


A single frame from a high-definition video taken by the Japanese Kaguya spacecraft. Source: JAXA/NHK

This picture was taken by Japanese artificial satellite Moon "Kaguya" April 6, 2008. At the time, Kaguya was the largest lunar program since the Apollo missions.

Deep Impact


Flyby of the Moon against the background of the Earth. Filming of the Deep Impact apparatus. Source: NASA / JPL / UMD. Storyboard: Gordan Ugarkovic

This series of photographs was taken by the Deep Impact camera on May 29, 2008 from a distance of 50 million kilometers from Earth. Each subsequent card was made with an interval of about 30 minutes, so the entire sequence fit into 3.5 hours.

"Rosetta"


Earth and moon from spacecraft"Rosetta".

Two unique photos

A genuine lunar landing program should provide plenty of verifiable evidence to support a lunar landing. Of course, such evidence must also include photographs of the Earth as seen from the Moon, since taken together they would constitute indisputable evidence due to numerous criteria. Seen from the Moon, the Earth is almost four times larger in diameter than the Moon seen from Earth; and high-quality photos of the Earth would then present a picture that, from any point of view, is certainly impressive.

The Earth, when viewed from the Moon, does not move in the lunar sky, but impressively appears to be "hanging" in one place, while the panorama of the continents is continuously changing due to the rotation of the Earth. In addition, the state of cloud cover over the continents never repeats. Together, these factors can provide evidence of the exact time the photo was taken. Moreover, if the photograph from the Moon is genuine, such an image would no doubt prompt meteorological comparisons.

From a careful scientific research astronomical factors are detailed and rigorously verifiable - compelling arguments could be provided due to the variety of parameters. starry background, for example, slowly moves behind the Earth, and the researcher can unambiguously confirm the point of observation. Images, including stars around the Earth, could be obtained if, say, the brightness of the Earth was reduced with a filter, or the brightness of stars against a black sky was increased in post-processing. And so on.

The proposed analysis, based on publicly available NASA data, with the exception of a few computer-simulated images, does not require much credit for the author, but rather is intended as a reason for further research. detailed study. All of this material is offered for review and reflection. All original sources are specified in detail so that there is no doubt about the data under discussion. Photos from NASA's Apollo reports are for research purposes only for clarity of evidence.

So what has become available since the first publicly acknowledged Apollo moon landing? Only two photographs of the Earth taken by the Apollo 11 crew from the lunar surface were presented. These two photographs, AS11-40-5923 and AS11-40-5924, from the Apollo 11 Picture Album, one of which can be seen above and in Figure 1, are very similar. Both photographs refer to the same time - with an accuracy of one second. The NASA report states that they were taken at a point in time defined as 110 hours, 50 minutes, 26 seconds of the so-called "ground elapsed time" (GET) 1 , that is, the time elapsed since the launch of Apollo 11, which took place at 13 hours 32 minutes 00 seconds GMT on July 16, 1969. The moment of surveying the Earth corresponds to 04:00. 22 min. 26 sec. GMT July 21, 1969.

Surprisingly, it remains unknown whether it was Neil Armstrong or Buzz Aldrin who made these two famous photos. This is not to say that NASA underestimates the importance of photographing the Earth and did not try to clarify the authorship of these outstanding photographs. Indeed, the situation has been relatively recently rethought by NASA archivists in a paper titled “Cinema and Photo Documents”. However, despite the extensive addition in italics to the Apollo 11 Picture Album annotations, the 1995 amendments, and the 2007 revisions - with references to Neil Armstrong's 1991 interview - the outcome remains entirely uncertain. NASA admits that the authorship of these two photographs remains a "little mystery".

So, surprisingly, the Apollo 11 Picture Album actually admits that "some uncertainty remains as to who took these photographs of the Earth" . This is especially surprising since the authorship of other photographs taken immediately before and immediately after these two is well known. Indeed, regarding AS11-40-5921, taken 2 minutes 21 seconds before AS11-40-5923, the Album states that "Buzz took this photo..." . And as for AS11-40-5927, taken after 3 minutes. 12 sec. after AS11-40-5924, "Neil is holding Hasselblad now (camera - ed.). Buzz is getting ready to move the passive seismometer..." .

The camera thus changed hands in a time span of approx. 5 minutes. 30 sec., and during this time two pictures of the Earth were taken. Was it Buzz who, after taking the pictures, handed the camera to Neal, or was it Neil? Presumably, the Technical Transcript of the Apollo 11 Conversations with Control Center on page 398 has the answer. At around 110 hours. 52 min. 01 sec., that is, after the moment of shooting two famous photos Earth, Buzz said: "Neil, if you take the camera, I'll go to the instrument bay..." . So it was Buzz who took the historical pictures a minute ago.

However, in another NASA document, the so-called. Comments on the Apollo 11 Conversations, on p.355/1, starting at 110 hours. 49 min. GET, some of Aldrin's words are attributed to Armstrong, and the above phrase at 110 o'clock. 52 min. stated differently: "Neil, if you bring a camera tripod to work on...(further entry is distorted)".

The main fact to be noted, lies in the fact that during the announced photographing of the Earth, the astronauts did not mention the Earth at all. Moreover, before and after that time they talked about a completely different topic, they studied possible damage to the landing stage of the Lunar Module (LM) due to impact during landing.

The audio recording of the conversations between Houston and the crew on the lunar surface does not give any hint of their possible admiration for the view of the Earth. Only after a relatively long silence of approx. for 50 seconds, when both astronauts were out of the field of view of the video camera, the following dialogue took place:
110:50:26 Aldrin: "Too Big Angle, Neil" .
[and eight seconds later]
110:50:34 Armstrong: "Yes. I think you're right" .

These two short phrases were later interpreted as evidence of a unique moment of photographing the Earth. Only after another long silence for 55 seconds does Aldrin say: "We are now back at the Lunar Module foothold minus Z" . (support along the “– Z” axis of the Lunar Module – ed.).

If photographs of Earth were indeed taken at this moment, why are Armstrong and Aldrin silent? And why is Houston also keeping quiet at the same time? The crew was not visible, so one would expect the Control Center to maintain contact, say, every 20 to 30 seconds. Houston actually does not speak for almost 5 minutes, while in the middle of this pause the astronauts were silent for 50 and 55 seconds. before and after the photographic event in question. Maybe the pieces of the negotiations that did not correspond to the legend were simply withdrawn?

The situation is extraordinary. One explanation could be that the tape ran out at that time, as can be seen in one of the documents Audio Recordings of the Apollo 11 Talks July 16-24, 1969 This audio recording, available on Live 365, has a gap in the recording near the 110 o'clock mark. 50 min., and after the discussed event at 110 h. 52 min., phrase "Neil, if you grab a camera tripod..." turned out to be chewed up and just not finished. However, in the Technical Transcript of the Negotiations mentioned above, the text continues at the time of the supposed non-stop photographing of the Earth, see below. .

Although the NASA report insists that one of the astronauts took these photographs in the middle of this minimal exchange of lines, the agency acknowledges its inability to determine who the photographer was. Was it hard to actually ask the astronauts? Common sense suggests that it would not be difficult to find out from them shortly after the flight. Otherwise, it must be assumed that the astronauts were asked this question, but none of them could remember, which would indeed be very strange.

The more you try to delve into the details of these infamous photographs of the Earth, the more inconsistencies you find. For example, in his book, published a few years after the flight of Apollo 11, Buzz Aldrin says:
"We were hoping to take a picture that would include the Earth, the lunar module and one of us. However, to do this, one of us would have to lie on your stomach to get the right angle, and then stand back up, which would probably take a lot of effort. But I still managed to photograph the module and the Earth. This picture was disappointing . (highlighted by me - author's note).

With a camera strapped to his chest, was it just a slip of the tongue when Buzz said you should have "lay on your stomach" instead of "lay on your back"? In any case, the situation is not so simple. With the camera pointing vertically up, the Earth would hit the edge of the frame with a blank field in the middle. The point is that the photographer would not have to lie on his stomach or on his back (which is really too dangerous in a spacesuit on the moon). Again, it is completely implausible to assume that the astronauts have forgotten who took these photos and how - especially after NASA insists that the photos were taken with the Hasselblad camera mounted on the astronauts' chests. Let's take a closer look at this key point.

The coordinates of the landing point in the Sea of ​​Tranquility are well known, therefore, the Earth was visible from the landing area at an angle of approx. 66.5 degrees above the lunar horizon. Hasselblad 500 EL/70 lunar camera with 60mm Biogon lens and approx. 47 deg. was attached to the astronaut's chest.

As seen in Fig. 2a, standing vertically, the operator was able to frame objects at an angle of 23.5 degrees to the horizontal. In order to get the Earth into the frame, the operator would have to bend backwards by an angle of approx. 45 degrees depending on the actual camera horizon on the astronaut's chest. Then he would have to bend even more back from 10 to 15 degrees (55-60 degrees in total) to get the Earth in the frame as in the two images in question. To perform this trick, he would most likely have to ask for help from his colleague to support him behind his back while setting up the composition and taking pictures.

In practice, in low gravity, such a backward bend would probably not be a difficult exercise, but no doubt the photographer would ask for help from his colleague for safety reasons. Therefore, it is most likely that both astronauts would have been involved. However, recently NASA began to talk about the rigidity of the suit, which would not allow such a pose. Moreover, this "bend back" option has never been recognized as practical way take pictures during the mission.

Alternatively, the astronaut could hold the camera in his hands. But without viewfinder the photographer would be working blindly, not sure what angle to take, and is the earth in the frame . It's too risky to leave such an important photo to chance.

Whatever it was, how could it happen that such an exceptionally important photographic achievement was forgotten? This is the very first picture of the Earth taken from the surface of the Moon! How can one remain indifferent at such a historical moment? Where is the excitement of the photographer? After all, he was honored to take the first photograph of our fragile planet from the surface of another celestial body. The feeling of realizing the importance of the event must be absolutely overwhelming and, at least unforgettable . This, no doubt, can only be compared with the privilege of being the first person to step on the lunar surface.

Another important question: where is the photo that Buzz Aldrin was talking about? If it failed, then what went wrong? How bad was the picture? To what extent was the picture "disappointing"? The irony is that in his book, Buzz talks about the same image: the LM and the Earth in the same frame.

The 40/S film catalog from the Apollo 11 Image Album presumably includes the entire series of color photographs taken on the lunar surface. If any photo taken by Buzz "turned out to be a disappointment", where are those pesky photos? They are not in the magazine catalog. And what about the two photographs of the LM and the Earth published by NASA in this Album?

So, who is the author? The album says NASA couldn't figure out his name. The whole story leaves the impression that NASA has failed in its duty as a competent source of primary information. Surprisingly, the agency seems to prefer to rely on occasional unofficial reviewers who only make assumptions, but cannot draw responsible final conclusions. Much of the recent commentary on lunar missions only reinforces the impression that NASA forced to invent clarifications in response to repetitive questions instead of competently presenting solid explanations.

Again, what kind of speculation can there be on a topic where, it would seem, we are dealing with an indisputable fact?

This puzzle-like convoluted story can be solved by simply assuming that no photographs of Earth have actually been taken from the Moon's surface. Then the pieces of this puzzle will no longer conflict with each other, because they will not have to be artificially tied to facts.

From the surface of the moon or from orbit

As NASA declares, photographs of the Earth were also taken by the crew of the Apollo 11 spacecraft from lunar orbit - this is the Earth rising over the lunar horizon, a series of photographs from AS11-44-6547 to AS11-44-6564. It is noteworthy that these photographs of the Earth from orbit have much more a high resolution, and the continents are clearly distinguishable. 18 (!) photos were taken in succession within approx. 2 minutes, and this intensity of photography indicates that the shooting was carried out, apparently, with enthusiasm. One can only guess why there was no such enthusiasm when it was most expected - when the astronauts set foot on the surface of the moon.

Based on NASA documents, it can be agreed that these photographs may have been taken by a Hasselblad camera equipped with a 250mm lens that was used on the Orbital Command Module (CM).

Figure 3 is a photo of AS11-44-6553 from this series. The Picture Album claims that these photographs of the Earth were taken just before the moon landing. They are described like this: "Earth view from Command Module Columbia, likely at the start of the communications zone (AOS) on either the 12th or 13th orbit" (Retrieved from the Apollo 11 Image Album on December 28, 2006 - no longer available due to discussed site text changes - author's note). Here “AOS“ (Acquisition of Signal) means the beginning of the radio visibility zone when the CM exits from behind the Moon.

"When looking at the Earth, Australia is on the left, directly above the lunar horizon" . This commentary on photo AS11-44-6547 in the Picture Album is suitable for just about every photo in this long series.

Yet again, there is no evidence in the audio recording of the negotiations with Houston that someone actually took these historic photographs.

Cloud pattern in Fig. 3, taken from lunar orbit, is remarkably similar to the clouds in photos AS11-40-5923 and AS11-40-5924. What is the time interval between these two series of photographs? Unfortunately, exact times the shooting of these 18 photographs is not given in the Picture Album, there are only vague references to the 12th or 13th revolution.

But there is a clue: Australia is visible in both photographs. Surprisingly, the mainland in the image from orbit is exactly in the same place where it is in photographs from the surface of the moon. What a perfect match! To obtain such a correspondence, the time interval between two photographs must be equal to 24 hours and 55 minutes with good accuracy.
(The delay of approximately 55 minutes compared to the length of an ideal day of 24 hours is caused by the passage of the Moon in orbit around the Earth in the time until the Earth makes a complete revolution to turn again exactly the same side to the Moon - ed.)

In fact, this is a serious limiting factor. If we accept that the photographs from orbit were taken before landing, and since two famous pictures were removed from the surface at 110 o'clock. 50 min., then there is no other choice but to admit that 18 photographs were taken in lunar orbit ca. 86 hours 00 min. GET (or 0332 GMT 20 July 1969), which means that the pictures were taken on the 6th orbit.

We return to our problem: it is easy to establish from the audio recordings of the conversations between the crew and the Control Center in Houston that after the CM entered the radio visibility zone at 86 hours. 30 min., as follows from the audio archive (episode GET 86 h. 06 min. - 94 h. 48 min.), the crew is sleeping. However, this time (i.e. no later than 86 hours and 40 minutes) is the most suitable time for shooting, so that the observed view of the Earth matches the image presented in photo AS11-44-6553 .

Throw in NASA's claim that the photographs of this series were taken on the 12th or 13th orbit, and the situation becomes very strange indeed. The fact is that between the 12th and 13th turns Australia was not visible at all from sides of the moon– only the Atlantic Ocean with South America and part of Africa (see Fig. 5 below).

Further, as regards the binding to time, then no other option for photography from orbit before landing, except for the 6th turn. The only possible time for photographing after the launch from the surface of the Moon was 135 hours. 35 min., with the next exit of the CM from behind the Moon, but it is difficult to imagine a less suitable time. The crew was busy in the process of deorbiting the ship from lunar orbit to Earth, and, in fact, the deorbiting had already been going on for approx. 12 min. Due to the movement of the Moon around the Earth, the apparent shape of the Earth would look noticeably reduced compared to the phase that is captured in the photographs of this series. Although, in fact, NASA has also claimed other images of the Earth rising, allegedly taken at the same time.

On the other hand, the visible outlines of the continent in the photographs of the series correspond quite well to the image modeled by the author on a computer for the time point 85 h. 55 min. (program starry night firm Imaginova).

So, a similar question arises: who shot the photo series AS11-44-6547 - AS11-44-6564? And why was it necessary to refer to the "12th or 13th orbit" when these images could only be obtained on the 6th orbit?

Another aspect that can confirm the authenticity of a photograph of the Earth at a given point in time is the picture of the clouds. The clouds in photos AS11-40-5923 and AS11-40-5924 captured at a specific time on a specific day over the Pacific Ocean are available for verification. However, the "cloudy aspect" alone cannot serve as a key argument that the photographs were taken from lunar orbit or from the lunar surface. The view of the Earth can also be obtained from a high orbit of the planet itself.

The Shining That Shouldn't Have Been

On Fig. Figure 6 shows the same original photographs mentioned earlier, extracted from the Apollo 11 Image Album (AS11-40-5923 and AS11-40-5924), which are duplicated after increasing the brightness and saturation of colors (using the MGI PhotoSuite 8.6 program). Unusual multicolored halos are clearly visible around some elements of the Lunar Module (LM). They look as if the area around these parts of the module were illuminated by a closely spaced bright light source. In fact, the most accepted explanation is that the photographs were taken in the atmosphere and not in a vacuum.

Rice. 6. Left photo: AS11-40-5923. Right: AS11-40-5924

Indeed, in photo 2 (right), the point of view is shifted by approx. a couple of meters to the left and has a different slope compared to photo 1. Accordingly, the strange glow can be seen more clearly in the left photo, since the illuminated air in the frame is closer to the light source. The halo in the right photo is slightly different, and seems more blurred. This is understandable, since the shooting angle is slightly steeper compared to the first photo (Fig. 6, right). Accordingly, the halo in the right image is less bright because the light source is hidden behind the LM. Perhaps the backlight source was located directly behind the LM.

How can you be sure of this? Perhaps this effect is due to non-uniform saturation of colors at the contrasting border, for example, during printing? Unfortunately, the suspicion is reinforced by the fact that the glow zone clearly protrudes beyond the LM contours only in a clearly localized area. Other parts of the module with the same level of contrast are clear and do not glow.

In photo 1 (left), the shape of the glow zone is more or less oval, which may correspond to a line of lighting elements. The glowing area shifts slightly to the left when the point of view moves to the left, as in photo 2. This is exactly what you would expect when the light source is located just behind the LM.

The same glow is clearly visible in a series of low resolution compact photographs (thumbnails) in the 40/S film catalog presented by NASA in the Image Album. This glow is evidence that the lunar module was photographed in the atmosphere.. Moreover, each of these two photographs was probably composed of two parts: a photo of the Earth (perhaps taken in lunar orbit, or even from Earth orbit) and a photo of the LM taken somewhere in the studio in the Earth's atmosphere.

Another striking feature can be seen in Fig. 6, photo 1 (left), where a contrasting border between the upper and lower parts Images. On an airless Moon, the "sky" should be completely black with no tints. Variations in the background of the black "sky" indicate the possibility that the painting was composed of two individual images.
Until recently, when computer image processing became available, these "mistakes" went unnoticed..

Issues that remain unresolved

A great opportunity was missed by NASA to present photographs of the Earth from the Moon as indisputable confirmation that the astronauts actually stood on the surface of the Moon during the Apollo 11 expedition. Moreover, the quality of these two high-profile photographs, as well as the accompanying information in the NASA reports, are inconsistent and confusing.

latest comments, added by NASA to the mission documents to clarify the details of these photos, looks like a helpless effort to tie together conflicting parts that do not solve problems. Of course, the mere fact that falsified images of the Earth are offered as additional evidence of the fact of a lunar landing does not automatically disprove such a landing.
But the combination of missed opportunities, along with the depressingly low quality of the information available, plus NASA's inadequate interpretation of its own data, all this leads to the fact that the whole situation looks unconvincing and, therefore, extremely suspicious..

Summing up: many aspects still require explanation from NASA

  • Why are the unique photographs of the Earth allegedly taken by the crew of the Apollo 11 spacecraft from the lunar surface, not accompanied by appropriate verbal comments from the crew, not to mention the naturally expected admiration for the very opportunity to accomplish this task?
  • In negotiations with the Apollo crew, there is no indication that Houston was interested in photographing the Earth from the Moon. Then it is reasonable to ask why NASA was not interested in obtaining unique photographs of the Earth from the Moon?
  • Where is the photo of Earth with the lunar module that Buzz Aldrin called "disappointing", that is, unfortunate - given that the Apollo 11 Picture Album claims to be full assembly photographs taken on the surface of the moon?
  • Who took a high-quality series of images from orbit with exactly the same view of the globe as in two photographs from the surface of the moon - at a time when the astronauts were supposed to sleep?
  • Why is it that NASA vaguely suggests that the time of photographing a series of images from orbit is around the 12th or 13th orbit, when these photographs could only have been taken on the 6th orbit?
  • How can one explain the clearly observed glow behind the lunar module, if these photographs were really taken on the lunar surface in a vacuum?
  • How is it possible that none of the astronauts can remember, nor the Agency can identify, the author of two historical photographs - the first ever photographs of the Earth taken by people from the surface of the Moon?

Thus, forty-five years later - if astronauts actually walked on the Moon - the fact that such an event cannot be confirmed by analyzing photographs taken on the Moon is highly problematic for NASA.

Indeed, authentic photographs would have to triumphantly confirm the lunar landing in all respects. For example, it will forever remain obvious how valuable a photograph of the lunar "sky" would be, showing the stars and the Earth at the center, taken at precisely the right time so that independent astronomers could verify the photographic evidence by comparing the image with a star map; but this is not.

Impossible to verify the authenticity of the pictures, allegedly made by the crew of the Apollo 11 spacecraft on the surface of the Moon, only adds to the suspicion and doubt about the truth of the announced Apollo 11 landing in July 1969.

. Apollo 11 Image Library/ Figure Captions © 1995-2009 by Eric M. Jones and Ken Glover // Last revised October 2014.
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/images11.html

. Apollo 11 Lunar Surface Journal: Mobility and Photography / Corrected Transcript and Commentary © 1995 by Eric M. Jones // Last revised February 2014.
https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/a11.mobility.html

. Technical Air-to-Ground Voice Transcription/ Manned Space Center, 1969.
https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/a11transcript_tec.pdf

. Apollo 11 Spacecraft Commentary July 16-24 1969/ Manned Space Center, 1969.
https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/a11transcript_pao.pdf

. Apollo 11 - Luna Landing.
www.live365.com/stations/apollo_11_oda

Aldrin E. Return to Earth/ Aldrin E. and Warga W. - N.Y.: Random House, 1973. - 338 p.

P. Coats. Earth Photos from the Moon: Anomalies. AFTERWORD to Part One, November 2014.
http://www.aulis.com/moon-earth_afterword.htm
Russian version: (ed. note)

Phil Coots lives and works in New Zealand, has a degree in applied physics. He has gained significant experience in applied research while working researcher at universities in the UK, as well as a development manager in private research companies. Phil writes under a pseudonym to separate it professional activity from other interests.

He can be contacted by email: [email protected]

Translation into Russian: ©2015, O.A. Petrov; reviewer: V.B. piotuh

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The other day, NASA announced that on July 19, the Cassini probe orbiting Saturn will photograph the Earth, which at the time of shooting will be at a distance of 1.44 billion kilometers from the device. This is not the first photo shoot of this kind, but the first one that was announced in advance. NASA experts hope that the new image will take pride of place among such famous pictures of the Earth. Like it or not, time will tell, but for now we can remember the history of photographing our planet from the depths of space.

Since ancient times, people have always wanted to look at our planet from above. The advent of aviation gave mankind the opportunity to rise above the clouds, and soon the rapid development of rocket technology made it possible to obtain photographs from truly space heights. The first pictures from space (if you follow the FAI standards, according to which space begins at an altitude of 100 km above sea level) were made in 1946 using a captured V-2 rocket.

First attempt at photography earth's surface satellite was undertaken in 1959. Satellite Explorer-6 I took this amazing photo. By the way, after the mission of Explorer-6 was completed, he still served the American Motherland, becoming a target for testing anti-satellite missiles.

Since then, satellite photography has developed at an incredible pace and now you can find a bunch of images of any part of the earth's surface for every taste. But the vast majority of these photos were taken from low earth orbit. What does the Earth look like from more distant distances?

Snapshot of the Apollos

The only people who could see the entire Earth (roughly speaking in one frame) were 24 people from the Apollo crews. We have a few classic shots as a legacy from this program.

And here is a picture taken with Apollo 11, where the earth terminator is clearly visible (and yes, we are not talking about a famous action movie, but about a line dividing the illuminated and unlit parts of the planet).

Photo of the Earth's crescent over the surface of the Moon, taken by the crew Apollo 15.

Another Earthrise, this time over the so-called dark side of the Moon. Photo taken with Apollo 16.

"The Blue Marble"- another iconic photograph taken on December 7, 1972 by the crew of Apollo 17 from a distance of approximately 29 thousand km. from our planet. It wasn't the first image to show a completely illuminated Earth, but it became one of the most famous. Apollo 17 astronauts are still last people who could observe the Earth from this angle. For the 40th anniversary of the photo, NASA remake this photo by gluing a bunch of frames from different satellites into a single composite image. There is also a Russian analogue made from the Elektro-M satellite.


When viewed from the surface of the Moon, the Earth is constantly at the same point in the sky. Since the Apollos landed in the equatorial regions, in order to make a patriotic avatar, the astronauts had to get the hang of it.

Shots from medium distances

In addition to the Apollos, a number of AMS photographed the Earth from a great distance. Here are the most famous of these pictures

Very famous shot Voyager 1 taken on September 18, 1977 from a distance of 11.66 million kilometers from Earth. As far as I know, this was the first image of the Earth and the Moon in one frame.

A similar picture taken by the device Galileo from a distance of 6.2 million kilometers in 1992


Photo taken on July 3, 2003 from the station Mars Express. The distance to Earth is 8 million kilometers.

And here is the most recent, but oddly the worst quality picture taken by the mission Juno from a distance of 9.66 million kilometers. So think - either NASA really saved on cameras, or because of the financial crisis, all the employees responsible for photoshop were fired.

Pictures from Martian orbit

This is what the Earth and Jupiter looked like from the orbit of Mars. The pictures were taken on May 8, 2003 by the apparatus Mars Global Surveyor, which was at that time at a distance of 139 million kilometers from the Earth. It is worth noting that the camera on board the device could not take color images, and therefore these are pictures in artificial colors.

Map of the location of Mars and planets at the time of shooting

And this is how the Earth looks already from the surface of the red planet. It is difficult to disagree with this inscription.

And here is another image of the Martian sky. The brighter point is Venus, the less bright one (pointed to by the arrows) is our home planet

Who cares, a very atmospheric photo of a sunset on Mars. It is somewhat reminiscent of a similar frame from a movie Stranger.


The same frame from Alien

Pictures from the orbit of Saturn

And here is the Earth in one of the pictures taken by the device mentioned at the beginning Cassini. The image itself is a composite image taken in September 2006. It was made up of 165 photographs taken in infrared and ultraviolet, which were then glued and processed to make the colors look like natural ones. In contrast to this mosaic, during the July 19 survey of the Earth and the Saturn system, for the first time, they will be filmed in the so-called natural colors, that is, as they would be seen by the human eye. In addition, for the first time, the Earth and the Moon will fall into the lens of the Cassini camera with the highest resolution.

Here's what Jupiter looks like from Saturn's orbit. The picture, of course, was also taken by the Cassini apparatus. At that time, the gas giants were separated by a distance of 11 astronomical units.

Family portrait "from inside" the solar system

This portrait of the solar system was taken by the spacecraft MESSENGER in orbit around Mercury in November 2010. Compiled from 34 images, the mosaic shows all the planets in the solar system, except for Uranus and Neptune, which were too far away to be recorded. In the pictures you can see the Moon, the four main satellites of Jupiter and even a piece of the Milky Way.

In fact, our home planet


in higher resolution
Scheme of the location of the apparatus and planets at the time of shooting

Family portrait "outside" the solar system

And finally, the father of all family portraits and ultra-long-range photographs - a mosaic of 60 photographs taken by the same Voyager 1 between February 14 and June 6, 1990. After the passage of Saturn in November 1980, the apparatus was generally inactive - others celestial bodies he did not have left to study, and before approaching the border of the heliopause, there were still about 25 years of flight.



After numerous requests, Carl Sagan managed to convince NASA management to reactivate the ship's cameras that were turned off a decade ago and take a picture of all the planets in the solar system. Only Mercury (which was too close to the Sun), Mars (which, again, was prevented by light from the Sun) and Pluto, which was simply too small, could not be photographed.

Voyager 1 was chosen because it followed a trajectory that seemed to lift it above the plane of the ecliptic, which made it possible to shoot all the planets "from above".

This view at the time of filming was opened from the board of the apparatus


Snapshot of the Sun and the regions where the Earth and Venus were located


planets close up

Carl Sagan himself had this to say about this photo: "Take another look at this dot. This is here. This is our home. This is us. Everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you've ever heard of, all people who have ever lived lived their lives on Our many pleasures and pains, thousands of self-confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and gatherer, every hero and coward, every builder and destroyer of civilizations, every king and peasant, every couple in love, every mother and every father, every capable child, inventor and traveler, every ethics teacher, every deceitful politician, every "superstar", every "greatest leader", every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived here - on a mote suspended in a sunbeam.

Earth is a very small stage in the vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood shed by all these generals and emperors, so that, in the rays of glory and triumph, they may become momentary masters of a fraction of a grain of sand. Think of the endless cruelties committed by the inhabitants of one corner of this point on the barely distinguishable inhabitants of another corner. About how frequent disagreements are between them, about how eager they are to kill each other, about how hot their hatred is.

Our posturing, our imagined importance, our delusion of our privileged status in the universe, they all succumb to this point of pale light. Our planet is just a single speck of dust in the surrounding cosmic darkness. In this vast void, there is no hint that someone will come to our aid in order to save us from our own ignorance.

Earth is the only known world capable of sustaining life. We have nowhere else to go - at least in the near future. Stay - yes. Colonize - not yet. Like it or not, the Earth is our home now."