Apollo 17 30th Anniversary: Antarctica Zoom-out

  • Released Thursday, January 23, 2003
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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 18,000 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.

Animation using the Apollo 17 full-Earth photo. This animation starts tight on Antarctica and slowly drifts back to reveal the rest of the globe.

Digital copy of the Apollo 17 full-Earth photograph.

Digital copy of the Apollo 17 full-Earth photograph.

Video slate image reads "Apollo 17: Antarctica Zoom-out Beauty shot pull-out of the Apollo 17 earth image starting over Antarctica and pulling out to reveal the rest of the globe".

Video slate image reads "Apollo 17: Antarctica Zoom-out

Beauty shot pull-out of the Apollo 17 earth image starting over Antarctica and pulling out to reveal the rest of the globe".

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Scientific Visualization Studio

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This page was originally published on Thursday, January 23, 2003.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:57 PM EDT.

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