Antarctica Zoom Out

  • Credit

    NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

Apollo 17 30th Anniversary: Antarctica Zoom-out

The Apollo 17 spacecraft was launched from the Kennedy Space Center at midnight on December 7th, 1972. Just hours after lift-off, the command module aligned with the Earth and Sun, allowing the crew to photograph Earth in full light. For the first time in an Apollo mission, the Antarctic continent was visible allowing for a photo to be taken by the orbiting astronauts. The photo was taken at about 28,000 statute miles away from Earth. Virtually every picture showing the full Earth is derived from this one photograph. Television, newspapers, websites, and marketing material have all used this photograph over the years. Geostationary weather satellites, Galileo, and many other spacecraft have returned great pictures of the full Earth from space, but this image is still the number one requested photo in the NASA photo archives.

Digital copy of the Apollo 17 full earth photograph.

Metadata

  • Sensor

    Apollo 17/Hasselblad 70mm Electric Camera

  • Animation ID

    2680

  • Video ID

    SVS2002-0029

  • Start Timecode

    01:00:35:00

  • End Timecode

    01:01:40:14

  • Animator

    Alex Kekesi

  • Studio

    SVS

  • Visualization Date

    2002/11/21

  • Datasets

    Photo #AS17-148-22727

  • Keywords

    picture, photography

  • Data Date

    photo:12/7/1972

  • Animation Type

    Regular