Lunar Orbiter

FOR RELEASE: August 26, 1966
PHOTO NO.: 66-H-1146
Washington D.C.

The world's first view of the Earth, taken by a spacecraft from the vicinity of the Moon. The photo was transmitted to the Earth by the United States Lunar Orbiter I and received at the NASA tracking station at Robledo de Chavela near Madrid, Spain. This crescent of the Earth was photographed August 23, at 16:35 GMT when the spacecraft was on its 16th orbit and just about to pass behind the Moon. This is the view the astronauts will have when they come around the backside of the Moon and face the Earth. The earth is shown on the left of the photo with the U.S. east coast in the upper left, souther Europe toward the dark or night side of the Earth, and Antarctica at the bottom of Earth crescent. The surface of the Moon is shown on the right side of the photo.