On December 24, 1968, astronaut William Anders of Apollo 8 took one of the most impactful photographs in the history of humanity. Generally known as Earthrise, the image not only holds fascinating details that most people don't know, but also represents an extraordinary evolutionary leap for space photography. Phil Edwards on YouTube invites us to learn its story.
Apollo 8 was much more than a "test drive". The Space Race was red-hot, the Russians had gained a slight advantage thanks to the success of Zond 5 (the first spacecraft to go to the Moon and return to Earth intact, with two turtles aboard), and with over a hundred defects detected in its lunar module, the mission received an important "reconfiguration" of its parameters that allowed Borman, Lovell, and Anders to visit our satellite.
But Apollo 8 also brought something marvelous: Earthrise, the image that became an icon of space exploration. Catalogs, calendars, stamps... reproduced ad nauseam, today it occupies a privileged place alongside other fabulous achievements of space photography like Blue Marble or Pale Blue Dot. However, there's a detail few people know: Earthrise should not exist. The restrictions were so great at the time that the final shot was almost a coincidence. Phil Edwards explains:
The Photography Behind Earthrise
First, the version of Earthrise we all know is incorrect, that is, the Moon is not "below", but in the original capture it appears to the "right" of the photographer. But getting to it required a combination of events larger than we imagine, especially because of the relative lack of interest in "non-scientific" photography. From geography to cloud formation, official documents speak of "synoptic photography" focused on large areas, and the "public relations" component for space photography virtually did not exist.
In fact, John Glenn had to convince NASA authorities to be able to carry a second camera aboard the Friendship 7 spacecraft. The first was a Leica installed by the space agency, while the second was a Minolta Ansco Autoset that Glenn bought at a local store. That camera was modified at various levels, but its automatic profile allowed him to obtain more than decent images.
A similar treatment received the Hasselblad 500 C of Wally Schirra (the Mercury-Atlas 8 astronaut), apparently chosen at the suggestion of NASA photographer Bill Taub (his work is impressive). Schirra's first images ended up overexposed (probably due to the absence of a viewfinder), but the results improved a lot in later missions. Photography had become such a serious practice that Gemini 10 gave rise to Experiment M410, in which they literally placed a color palette in space to verify the differences between what the astronaut saw and what was ultimately captured (official report, page 49).
Still, all these advances were not enough to guarantee a shot like Earthrise. Phil talks about three barriers: photographic, technical, and cultural. On the photographic side, NASA adopted the Hasselblad 500 EL, a 500 C with additional automatic functions... but once again, without a viewfinder. On the technical level, the windows constantly fogged up due to gas release, blocking vision almost completely. And as for the cultural factor... the priority was the Moon. The astronauts were not on vacation. Most of Apollo 8's content focuses on the lunar surface, just as NASA had indicated.
But on the fourth lunar revolution, William Anders saw Earth appear, and had the exact combination of intuition and determination to ask Lovell for a color film, and ignore Borman's joke about the itinerary. One of the windows was fogged, they changed positions... and Earthrise became reality. Despite the camera limitations, the covered windows, and the orders.
