Prior to October 1946, non one had ever seen what Earth looked like from outer space, let alone a photograph!
Back in the 1940s, the US seized V-2 missiles from Nazi Germany after World War II in aims to improve American missile defence.
In 1946, US researchers repurposed some of the missiles for space exploration instead of weaponry. They strapped a 35-millimeter motion picture camera to a V-2 missile and launched it into space from New Mexico.
Reaching 65 miles above the Earth surface, the first photograph of Earth from space was captured.
Advert
It wasn't the initial plan to take pictures of space, rather a side task to learning everything about space. Specifically, the 'origin of galactic cosmic rays' - according to Martin Collins, a space historian and curator at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
Enclosed safely in a steel case, the camera would plumet back down to Earth. And the scientists couldn't believe it.
The V-2 film delivered the first black and white glimpses of our planet. Despite the low resolution and almost ghostly appearance, they didn't show much more than the Earth's curvature and a cloud cover, but at the time it was revolutionary.
Advert
Fred Rulli, who recovered the film from the desert floor, said that 'when they first projected [the photos] onto the screen, the scientists just went nuts.'
Between 1946 and 1950, more than 1,000 images were returned from space, some taken at altitudes as high as 100 miles.
The camera was designed by Clyde Holliday who - upon seeing the first image of Earth in 1950 - described the image as 'how our Earth would look to visitors from another planet coming in on a space ship.'
Advert
This event marked an unspoken tradition of 'looking back' in future space missions. Bill Barry, NASA's former chief historian, confirmed that 'during almost every mission, we turn around and take a picture back home.
'There seems to be an irresistible tendency to look back at home.'
Photography has long evolved alongside space exploration, with astronauts capturing many geological and meteorological features from space, as well as themselves. Even today, astronauts are taught photography skills in the International Space Station (ISS).
It wasn't until decades later than Apollo 8 astronauts captured another iconic image of Earth - a more distant photo showing Earth surrounded by black space. Sadly, Barry noted that the earlier pictures are 'mostly forgotten' because of the 'nice colour pictures we got later.'
Advert
Just as astronauts always look back at home in space, the first photographs of Earth are like a time capsule showing how far humanity has come. Collins remarked that the image has 'captured that sense of change.'