Silly Little Country

Apollo 8 - Can it Really be Forty Years?

The famous Apollo 8 picture of Earthrise over the lunar horizon was a stunningly beautiful image. Even though it had been photographed earlier by the first robotic Lunar Orbiter mission, both the magnificent color of the Apollo 8 picture and the fact that a human had taken it changed our view of the Earth and ourselves. Earth became “a grand oasis in the big vastness of space” to use Jim Lovell’s memorable phrase. This single image did more to raise a “global consciousness” — for good and ill — than did the tons of books, protest marches and pamphlets produced by the environmental movement.

posted by Alan Adamson @ 9:29 PM