Mako Shark II
Fish are Friends not Food
I was just seven-years old….and fascinated by all of it. The Whole NASA “thing”. (And it is why I am in Aviation today!)
Apollo 8 was the first mission to take humans to the Moon and back. An important prelude to actually landing on the Moon was testing the flight trajectory and operations for getting there and back. Apollo 8 did this and acheived many other firsts including the first manned mission launched on the Saturn V, first manned launch from NASA's new Moonport, first pictures taken by humans of the Earth from deep space, and first live TV coverage of the lunar surface.
"Earthrise" is the name given to a photograph of the Earth taken by astronaut William Anders in 1968 during the Apollo 8 mission, the first manned mission to the Moon. In LIFE Magazine's "100 Photographs that Changed the World", wilderness photographer Galen Rowell called it, "the most influential environmental photograph ever taken."
Correctly oriented here, the Apollo 8 Astronauts unknowingly came upon this photo opportunity quiet by accident.
Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the Moon, entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1968. That evening, the astronauts; Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders did a live television broadcast from lunar orbit, in which they showed pictures of the Earth and Moon seen from Apollo 8. Lovell said, "The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth."
They ended the broadcast with the crew taking turns reading from the book of Genesis.
William Anders:
"For all the people on Earth the crew of Apollo 8 has a message we would like to send you".
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness."
Jim Lovell:
"And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day."
Frank Borman:
"And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good."
After a live Christmas Eve broadcast to Earth in 1968, Commander Frank Borman needed to roll the spacecraft so that Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell could do a navigational sighting, and he and Lovell had been waiting patiently for Lunar Module Pilot Bill Anders to finish. With only seconds before they reacquired earth signal Anders gave the OK, and Borman started the roll.
To do this Borman gazed out his window, using the moon’s horizon as a reference point. Suddenly he noticed a blue-and-white fuzzy arch edging upward from behind the moon’s sharp horizon line of dreary gray. This growing round patch was the only color in a black-and-white universe.
“Oh my God!” Borman cried out. “Look at that picture over there! Here’s the earth coming up!” He stared at the earthrise in wonder. “Wow, is that pretty.”
Lovell gaped. “Oh man, that’s great!”
Suddenly, they all realized that they had to get a picture. Of all the objectives NASA had set before launch, no one had thought of photographing the earth from lunar orbit. Borman grabbed the nearby floating camera that Anders had been using and snapped a picture, only to have Bill joke, “Hey don’t take that, it’s not scheduled.”
They all laughed. Borman handed the camera to Anders and looked out the window again. “Gee,” he sighed. The earth was so beautiful, and so far away.
Anders also wanted to get a picture but the camera Borman had given him was loaded with black-and-white film. “Hand me that roll of color quick,” he said to Lovell, who was closest to the correct storage locker. For a few moments there was panic as Lovell scrambled to get him the film and Anders struggled to load it. Then they jostled for position at the window.
Anders: “Let me get it out this window. It’s a lot clearer.”
Lovell: “Bill, I got it framed — it’s very clear right here.”
Outside the half-full earth had now risen several degrees above the horizon. It glistened with a blue-white gleam against that jet-black sky, the moon’s dead surface hanging below it.
As Anders framed the shot Lovell hung over his shoulder, almost taking the camera from him in his desire to make sure the picture was taken. Borman had to tell him to calm down.
Lovell was entranced. “Oh, that’s a beautiful shot.” He asked Anders to take a number of pictures, varying the exposure.
Anders nodded. “I did. I took two of them.”
“You sure we got it now?”
“Yes.” He looked at Lovell dryly. “It’ll come up again, I think.”
The three men stared at their home planet as it drifted slowly up into the sky. They had just witnessed the first earthrise ever seen by any human being.
............And I'm still fascinated by all of it.
It is “our” World.
It is “our” Home.
It is Everything we know and love, and the only place we have ever been.
Happy Earth Day!
Thank you for protecting, promoting and preserving our Seas!
Apollo 8 was the first mission to take humans to the Moon and back. An important prelude to actually landing on the Moon was testing the flight trajectory and operations for getting there and back. Apollo 8 did this and acheived many other firsts including the first manned mission launched on the Saturn V, first manned launch from NASA's new Moonport, first pictures taken by humans of the Earth from deep space, and first live TV coverage of the lunar surface.
"Earthrise" is the name given to a photograph of the Earth taken by astronaut William Anders in 1968 during the Apollo 8 mission, the first manned mission to the Moon. In LIFE Magazine's "100 Photographs that Changed the World", wilderness photographer Galen Rowell called it, "the most influential environmental photograph ever taken."
Correctly oriented here, the Apollo 8 Astronauts unknowingly came upon this photo opportunity quiet by accident.
Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the Moon, entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1968. That evening, the astronauts; Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders did a live television broadcast from lunar orbit, in which they showed pictures of the Earth and Moon seen from Apollo 8. Lovell said, "The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth."
They ended the broadcast with the crew taking turns reading from the book of Genesis.
William Anders:
"For all the people on Earth the crew of Apollo 8 has a message we would like to send you".
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness."
Jim Lovell:
"And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day."
Frank Borman:
"And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good."
After a live Christmas Eve broadcast to Earth in 1968, Commander Frank Borman needed to roll the spacecraft so that Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell could do a navigational sighting, and he and Lovell had been waiting patiently for Lunar Module Pilot Bill Anders to finish. With only seconds before they reacquired earth signal Anders gave the OK, and Borman started the roll.
To do this Borman gazed out his window, using the moon’s horizon as a reference point. Suddenly he noticed a blue-and-white fuzzy arch edging upward from behind the moon’s sharp horizon line of dreary gray. This growing round patch was the only color in a black-and-white universe.
“Oh my God!” Borman cried out. “Look at that picture over there! Here’s the earth coming up!” He stared at the earthrise in wonder. “Wow, is that pretty.”
Lovell gaped. “Oh man, that’s great!”
Suddenly, they all realized that they had to get a picture. Of all the objectives NASA had set before launch, no one had thought of photographing the earth from lunar orbit. Borman grabbed the nearby floating camera that Anders had been using and snapped a picture, only to have Bill joke, “Hey don’t take that, it’s not scheduled.”
They all laughed. Borman handed the camera to Anders and looked out the window again. “Gee,” he sighed. The earth was so beautiful, and so far away.
Anders also wanted to get a picture but the camera Borman had given him was loaded with black-and-white film. “Hand me that roll of color quick,” he said to Lovell, who was closest to the correct storage locker. For a few moments there was panic as Lovell scrambled to get him the film and Anders struggled to load it. Then they jostled for position at the window.
Anders: “Let me get it out this window. It’s a lot clearer.”
Lovell: “Bill, I got it framed — it’s very clear right here.”
Outside the half-full earth had now risen several degrees above the horizon. It glistened with a blue-white gleam against that jet-black sky, the moon’s dead surface hanging below it.
As Anders framed the shot Lovell hung over his shoulder, almost taking the camera from him in his desire to make sure the picture was taken. Borman had to tell him to calm down.
Lovell was entranced. “Oh, that’s a beautiful shot.” He asked Anders to take a number of pictures, varying the exposure.
Anders nodded. “I did. I took two of them.”
“You sure we got it now?”
“Yes.” He looked at Lovell dryly. “It’ll come up again, I think.”
The three men stared at their home planet as it drifted slowly up into the sky. They had just witnessed the first earthrise ever seen by any human being.
............And I'm still fascinated by all of it.
It is “our” World.
It is “our” Home.
It is Everything we know and love, and the only place we have ever been.
Happy Earth Day!
Thank you for protecting, promoting and preserving our Seas!
