58 years since the first photograph of the Earth from the Moon
August 23 marks exactly 58 years since its foundation. the first image of planet earth taken from the mooncalled “the image of the century”, the commander of the ship NASA’s Lunar Orbiter 1.
The first photograph of the Earth seen from the Moon was transmitted on August 23, 1966 from this spacecraft, integrated into the second American automatic lunar recognition program, to the Robledo de Chavela space station (Madrid).
But the purpose of Lunar Orbiter 1, launched on August 10, 1966, was not to immortalize the Earth with our satellite, it was something unexpected. The real purpose of this spacecraft was photograph nine possible Apollo landing sitesseven secondary zones and a landing site Surveyor 1.
On August 28, 1966, Lunar Orbiter 1 completed its primary photographic mission. total 205 images, Of these, 38 were placed into initial orbit and 167 into lower orbits, covering an area of 5.18 million square kilometers, according to NASA.
The first lunar photo lab
This photo has been around the world for placement Earth in perspective with space and it was also the first lunar photo lab capable of changing its orbit. But the image we see today is not the same one that was taken 58 years ago, as in 2008, the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project (LOIRP), Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project, received a higher quality version of the image.
The first photograph of Earth seen from lunar orbit. Above is the original image, below is the image restored by NASA’s Image Restoration Project. POT
The primary instrument on Lunar Orbit 1 was the imaging system. Eastman Kodak weighing 68 kilograms (which, among other things, used wide-angle lenses) and which could develop films, scan images and send them back to Earth.
“Spy” camera
In a turn of events that was only known since the end of the Cold War, Eastman Kodak Camera was developed originally one of US intelligence agencies National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and he also flew on a spy satellite Samos E-1, according to the US space agency.
Lunar Orbiter 1 completed its mission on October 29, 1966, and was deliberately launched against the lunar surface so as not to interfere with its predecessor, Lunar Orbiter 2, as there were four more missions after that. It was launched into space from 1966 to 1967. Five spacecraft that managed to photograph 99% of the Moon.