Timeline of first images of Earth from space
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Photography and other imagery of planet Earth from outer space[a] started in the 1940s. Initially the images were taken from rockets in suborbital flight, subsequently from satellites around Earth, and eventually from spacecraft beyond Earth's orbit.[b]
Timeline
| Image | Date | Craft or mission | Event | ||||
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October 24, 1946 | V-2 | First images of Earth from outer space,[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] flight monitoring continuous imaging, resulting in a timelapse-movie reel. Not published as Earth observation images until 1950.[9] Taken by the V-2 No. 13 suborbital spaceflight, the eighth successful US spaceflight and one of the first over-all. | ||||
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March 7, 1947 | First dedicated and first published Earth observation images from outer space, first published on March 25, 1947.[9][10][11][12] | |||||
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July 26, 1948 | First prepared wide-angle panorama of Earth from outer space. | |||||
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October 5, 1954 | Aerobee AJ10-24
RTV-N-10b |
The first color image from space as part in the left corner of this first color photomosaic of Earth from space,[13] composed of 117 images taken from an altitude of 100 miles (160 km).[14][15] | ||||
| [image needed] | February–March 1959 | Vanguard 2 | First attempt of a scanner, in which a single photocell mounted at the focus of telescope would scan Earth due to the satellite movement; resulting images were poor.[16] | ||||
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August 14, 1959 | Explorer 6 | First image of Earth from orbit, showing a sunlit area of the Central Pacific Ocean and its cloud cover.[17][18][19][20] | ||||
| [image needed] | 1959 | Explorer 7 | The first "coarse maps of the solar radiation reflected by the Earth and the infrared radiation emitted by the Earth", from a mission launched on October 13, 1959.[21] | ||||
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1960 | TIROS-1 | First television image of Earth from space and first weather satellite picture.[22] | ||||
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August 18, 1960 | CORONA | "First space-based Earth observation system";[23] its first successful mission was Discoverer 14 on 19 August 1960 with the recovery of photographic film from an orbiting satellite.[23][24] | ||||
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August 6, 1961 | Vostok 2 | First image, color images and movie of Earth from space taken by a person, by cosmonaut Gherman Titov – the first photographer from space.[25][26] | ||||
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1963 | KH-7 Gambit | First high-resolution (sub-meter spatial resolution) satellite photography (classified).[27] | ||||
![](#/media/File:Slant-range_and_"ground-range"_forms_of_1964_"Quill"_satellite_radar_image_of_Richmond,_VA.JPG) |
1964 | Quill | First radar images of Earth from space, using a synthetic aperture radar (SAR).[28] This shows part of Richmond, Virginia. | ||||
| See article | March 18, 1965 | Voskhod 2 | First image and movie of Earth with a human (Alexei Leonov) floating in space (the first ever EVA).[29] | ||||
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March 18, 1965 | Voskhod 2 | First drawing of Earth from space and art made in space (by Leonov, the first artist in space).[30] | ||||
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May 30, 1966 | Molniya 1–3 | First full-disk pictures of the Earth, published in Review of Popular Astronomy July–August.[31][20] | ||||
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August 23, 1966 | Lunar Orbiter 1 | First image of Earth from another astronomical object (the Moon) and first picture of both Earth and the Moon from space.[32][33][34][7][19] The image (frame 1102; image 102 of Lunar Orbiter 1) consists of three parts h1-h3.[35] Since its original publication its raw analog data has been used to digitally produce the image (including its wide angle version) in higher resolution (see) and clarity (see).[36] | ||||
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December 11, 1966 | ATS-1 | First picture of both Earth and the Moon from the Earth's orbit.[37] | ||||
,_1966.jpg) |
First full-disk pictures of the Earth from a geostationary orbit.[37] | ||||||
| [image needed] | January 1967 | First movie of Earth from space made without a human camera operator (contrast to Titov's 1961 movie).[37] | |||||
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April 24, 1967[38] | Surveyor 3 | First images showing both sunset and sunrise over Earth at the same time, taken from the Moon's surface during a solar eclipse caused by Earth (rather than the Moon).[39][40] | ||||
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April 30, 1967 | First color image of Earth from the surface of another astronomical object, from the Moon's surface.[41] | |||||
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September 20, 1967 (released November 10)[42] | DODGE | First full-disk black-and-white filtered[42] color picture of the Earth.[6] | ||||
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November 10, 1967 | ATS-3 | First full-disk "true color"[43] picture of the Earth;[44] subsequently used on the cover of the first Whole Earth Catalog.[45][44] | ||||
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September 14, 1968 | Zond-5 | Black-and-white image of a half-disk of the Earth with Africa and Arabian Peninsula clearly visible.[46][47] The images were taken approximately 90,000 km away from Earth. They were taken on the film camera with 400mm focal length. | ||||
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December 21, 1968 (December solstice) | Apollo 8 | First full-disk image of Earth from space taken by a person (astronaut William Anders).[48] | ||||
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December 24, 1968 | The first photograph of Earth taken by a person (William Anders)[49] from another astronomical object (the Moon).[50][51] For a colorized version see this image. | |||||
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The Earthrise image is the first color image of Earth by a person (William Anders) from the Moon,[33][6][19] moments after his black-and-white photograph. | ||||||
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July 21, 1969 | Apollo 11 | The much reproduced full frame image AS11-40-5903 of Buzz Aldrin; happens to be the first indirect image of Earth taken by a person from the surface of another astronomical object (from the Moon), having by accident in his visor a reflection of Earth.[52] | ||||
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First direct image of Earth taken by a person from the surface of another astronomical object (from the Moon), (AS11-40-5923).[20][53] | ||||||
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November 24, 1969 | Apollo 12 | First images (black-and-white and 16mm color film) of a solar eclipse with the Earth, taken by a human, when the Apollo 12 spacecraft aligned its view of the Sun with the Earth.[54][55] | ||||
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1971 | ISIS–2 | First full image of an aurora borealis[56][57][58] | ||||
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December 7, 1972 | Apollo 17 | First fully illuminated color image of the Earth by a person[59] (AS17-148-22725)[60][61] and of the South Pole region,[62] being illuminated around December solstice. This photo was taken just before another picture was taken with the same perspective, which cropped and processed became the widely used Blue Marble picture (AS17-148-22727).[63][64] | ||||
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July–September 1973 | Skylab 3 | Early color image of an aurora by a human from space.[65][66] | ||||
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November 1973 (components) / 1999 (composition) | Mariner 10 | Mariner took the first high resolution digital color images of Earth from heliocentric orbit in interplanetary space at 2.6 million kilometers, as in this mosaic and composite size comparison image of Earth and the Moon produced in 1999 with images from Mariner 10.[67] | ||||
| [image needed] | 1977 | KH-11 | First real-time satellite imagery.[68] | ||||
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September 18, 1977 | Voyager 1 | First full-disk picture and first single frame picture of Earth and the Moon together.[37] | ||||
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February 14, 1990 | The Pale Blue Dot is the first image of Earth from beyond all of the other Solar System planets. It is part of the first picture of the full extent of the planetary system, known as the Family Portrait.[19][69] | |||||
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December 11, 1990 | Galileo | First interplanetary fly-by image of Earth during the second ever Earth fly-by,[70] which is also the first frame of the first movie of a full rotation of Earth.[71] | ||||
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October 13, 1999 | IKONOS | First commercial high-resolution (sub-meter) satellite photography (non-classified); it made the cover of The New York Times.[72] | ||||
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May 8, 2003 13:00 UTC | Mars Global Surveyor | First image of Earth (and the Moon) from another planet (in orbit around Mars);[73] notice South America is visible.[33][6] | ||||
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March 11, 2004 | Spirit Mars Exploration rover | First image taken of Earth from the surface of Mars and any celestial body other than the Moon. | ||||
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July 27, 2006 | Cassini–Huygens | The Pale Blue Orb is the first image of Earth from Saturn.[74] | ||||
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August 9, 2021 | Parker Solar Probe | Image and video of Earth from within the outer solar corona, taken during the second time that any probe has ever reached the corona.[75] | ||||
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September 5, 2024 | Curiosity | First image of Earth with Phobos (from the surface of Mars).[76] | ||||
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April 3, 2026 | Reid Wiseman (Artemis II) | Hello, World, the first published full-disk photo of Earth taken by a human since 1972, [77] is the first taken by a human to show Earth's night side illuminated by moonlight, with city lights, airglow, two auroras, afterglow, and zodiacal light. The photograph also includes Venus.[78] | ||||
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April 6, 2026 | Christina Koch (Artemis II) | Known as Earthset, this is the first photograph taken by a human to show the Moon and Earth in the same frame from thousands of miles beyond the Moon. | ||||
See also
- List of notable images of Earth from space
- List of photographs considered the most important
- Aerial photography – Taking images of the ground from the air
- Earth observation – Information about the Earth environment
- Earth in culture – Cultural perspectives about Earth
- Earth phase – Phases of Earth as seen from the Moon
- Extraterrestrial sky – Extraterrestrial view of outer space
- Hemispheres of Earth – Division of the globe into equal halves
- Overview effect – Cognitive shift after seeing Earth from space
- Satellite imagery – Images taken from an artificial satellite
- Space selfie – Self-portrait photo taken in outer space
- View of Earth from Mars – Extraterrestrial view of outer space
- World map – Map of most or all of the surface of the Earth
Notes
- Within the context of this timeline, outer space is considered as starting at the Kármán line, 100 kilometres (62 miles) above mean sea level (AMSL).
- The inclusion criterion for this timeline is being a first in terms of the conditions in which the image was taken.