1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,000 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:11,000 Speaker 1: Heart Radio, Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:14,520 Speaker 1: a show that rockets through history at the speed of 4 00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:19,920 Speaker 1: one day per day. I'm Gave Louzier, and in this episode, 5 00:00:20,239 --> 00:00:23,280 Speaker 1: we're looking back at the time when an unknown astronaut 6 00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:27,520 Speaker 1: grabbed a camera and gave mankind a whole new perspective 7 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:38,640 Speaker 1: on the blue Marble we call home. The day was 8 00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:44,920 Speaker 1: December seven, two five hours after launching from the Kennedy 9 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:49,760 Speaker 1: Space Center, the crew aboard the Apollo seventeen spacecraft captured 10 00:00:49,800 --> 00:00:53,400 Speaker 1: a rare image of the Earth in its entirety. The 11 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:58,319 Speaker 1: photos official designation in the NASA Archives is a S 12 00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:02,600 Speaker 1: one seven dash one for eight dash two to seven 13 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:05,800 Speaker 1: to seven, but most of us know it better as 14 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:10,160 Speaker 1: the Blue Marble Shot. The iconic picture shows a fully 15 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:14,440 Speaker 1: illuminated view of the globe extending from the Mediterranean Sea 16 00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:18,600 Speaker 1: to the South polar ice Cap. To be clear, the 17 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:22,200 Speaker 1: Blue Marble wasn't the first photo of the whole Earth. 18 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:26,920 Speaker 1: Unmanned satellites had taken similar pictures as early as nineteen 19 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:31,760 Speaker 1: sixty seven. It was, however, the first such image seen 20 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:35,120 Speaker 1: by the public and the only photo of the whole 21 00:01:35,319 --> 00:01:40,759 Speaker 1: sunlit planet ever taken by a human being. NASA released 22 00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:44,520 Speaker 1: the image on December twenty three, four days after the 23 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:48,040 Speaker 1: crew had safely returned from the Moon and splashed down 24 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:51,680 Speaker 1: in the Pacific Ocean. The photo was printed on the 25 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:55,040 Speaker 1: front page of just about every newspaper in the world, 26 00:01:55,560 --> 00:01:59,400 Speaker 1: and the rapidly growing environmental movement of the nineteen seventies 27 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:04,280 Speaker 1: quick adopted it as the symbol of global awareness. Because 28 00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:07,880 Speaker 1: the taxpayer funded image was in the public domain from 29 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:11,880 Speaker 1: the start, it has since appeared on everything from postage 30 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:16,280 Speaker 1: stamps and T shirts to billboards and car commercials. To 31 00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:19,639 Speaker 1: this day, it remains the most requested picture in the 32 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:22,560 Speaker 1: NASA archives, and it's believed to be one of the 33 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:28,280 Speaker 1: most widely reproduced and distributed photos ever taken. And yet 34 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:32,960 Speaker 1: half a century later, we still don't know who actually 35 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:37,000 Speaker 1: took it, and there are only three candidates, and they are, 36 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:41,080 Speaker 1: of course, the three men aboard the rocket, Eugene Cernan, 37 00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:46,200 Speaker 1: the commander of Apollo seventeen, Harrison Jack Schmidt, the lunar 38 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:52,120 Speaker 1: module pilot, and Ron Evans, the Command module pilot. NASA 39 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:55,200 Speaker 1: policy is to attribute the crew as a whole for 40 00:02:55,240 --> 00:02:59,480 Speaker 1: all mission photography, except In rare cases when credit is 41 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:03,040 Speaker 1: in disput mutable, such as when the only two astronauts 42 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:07,400 Speaker 1: on the Moon take photos of each other, the prevailing theory, 43 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:11,560 Speaker 1: based on analysis of the NASA transcripts and mission logs, 44 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:16,639 Speaker 1: is that Harrison Schmidt was likely the true photographer. If 45 00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:19,919 Speaker 1: you're wondering why the crew didn't confirm which of them 46 00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:23,360 Speaker 1: took the picture, the answer is that they couldn't agree. 47 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:27,680 Speaker 1: At various times over the years, all three of them 48 00:03:27,720 --> 00:03:31,800 Speaker 1: claimed to have snapped the blue Marble. Regardless of who 49 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:34,640 Speaker 1: took the photo, it was a one in a million 50 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:38,800 Speaker 1: shot that easily could have been missed. Most of the 51 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:43,120 Speaker 1: astronauts who flew lunar missions never saw a full Earth, 52 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:46,560 Speaker 1: and all the photos they took showed the planet at 53 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:50,400 Speaker 1: least partly in shadow, such as the famous earth rise 54 00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:54,600 Speaker 1: shot of nineteen sixty eight. Getting a clear shot of 55 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:58,000 Speaker 1: the full globe was difficult for a couple of reasons. 56 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:02,040 Speaker 1: First of all, the would have to be going somewhere 57 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:06,080 Speaker 1: at least twenty thousand miles away from the Earth, like 58 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:10,000 Speaker 1: to the Moon, for instance. Only then would they be 59 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:13,600 Speaker 1: far enough back to see the whole planet. But even 60 00:04:13,640 --> 00:04:16,800 Speaker 1: when a crew was at the right distance. The only 61 00:04:16,839 --> 00:04:19,640 Speaker 1: time they could snap a photo of the complete Earth 62 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:24,640 Speaker 1: unobscured was when passing through a precise position between the 63 00:04:24,640 --> 00:04:28,600 Speaker 1: Earth and the Sun. Outside of that sweet spot, the 64 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:32,760 Speaker 1: planet would always be at least partially in shadow. It's 65 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:37,040 Speaker 1: a narrow enough window to easily miss, especially when traveling 66 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:40,960 Speaker 1: in a spacecraft at thousands of miles an hour. The 67 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:45,080 Speaker 1: blue Marble was also a lucky shot from a mission perspective. 68 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:49,760 Speaker 1: Like every other aspect of the Apollo missions, photo sessions 69 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:54,880 Speaker 1: were meticulously planned and scheduled. Weight considerations limited the amount 70 00:04:54,960 --> 00:04:58,040 Speaker 1: of cameras and film that could be brought aboard, meaning 71 00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:03,000 Speaker 1: that each individual shot had to be planned in advance. However, 72 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:06,799 Speaker 1: the blue Marble shot was not part of that plan. 73 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:10,480 Speaker 1: The time stamp on the photo doesn't line up with 74 00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:14,360 Speaker 1: any of the approved shots on the schedule. That's because 75 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:17,719 Speaker 1: at a little over five hours into their flight, one 76 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:21,200 Speaker 1: of the crewmen looked out the window and just couldn't 77 00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:24,599 Speaker 1: help but take a picture. What he saw was so 78 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:28,680 Speaker 1: striking that he immediately reached for the only seventy millimeter 79 00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:33,279 Speaker 1: camera that wasn't stowed away and took four pictures, each 80 00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:37,880 Speaker 1: about a minute apart. The sequential shots were necessary to 81 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:41,200 Speaker 1: ensure he got the full planet in frame, as there 82 00:05:41,279 --> 00:05:44,800 Speaker 1: was no viewfinder on the camera. As a result of 83 00:05:44,839 --> 00:05:48,839 Speaker 1: trying different aims, the famous photo, which was the second 84 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:52,200 Speaker 1: in the series, was actually taken while the camera was 85 00:05:52,279 --> 00:05:57,119 Speaker 1: upside down. The resulting photo showed Antarctica at the top 86 00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:00,440 Speaker 1: of the globe, though the images typically invert had right 87 00:06:00,480 --> 00:06:04,560 Speaker 1: side up when reproduced. And before you blame the photographer 88 00:06:04,640 --> 00:06:07,919 Speaker 1: for being sloppy, remember that he was waitless at the 89 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:11,279 Speaker 1: time and could very well have been upside down himself. 90 00:06:12,279 --> 00:06:15,320 Speaker 1: Whoever took the shot didn't say anything about it to 91 00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:19,760 Speaker 1: his crewmates or on the radio, possibly because they weren't 92 00:06:19,760 --> 00:06:22,360 Speaker 1: sure if they had gotten the full planet in frame 93 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:26,400 Speaker 1: and didn't want to get anyone's hopes up. Twelve days later, 94 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:30,600 Speaker 1: the Apollo seventeen landed safely back on Earth and the 95 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:33,680 Speaker 1: film was processed in a photo lab at the Johnson 96 00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:38,320 Speaker 1: Space Center in Houston, Texas. The film technician who developed 97 00:06:38,320 --> 00:06:42,080 Speaker 1: the photo knew the crew had captured something special, a 98 00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:45,440 Speaker 1: view of the Earth as few had ever seen it before. 99 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:51,479 Speaker 1: Apollo seventeen was the final mission of the Apollo program. 100 00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:54,039 Speaker 1: It was also the last time to date that a 101 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:58,000 Speaker 1: human traveled far enough into space to view the complete 102 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:01,600 Speaker 1: Earth at once, and the time. Since our last trip 103 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:05,120 Speaker 1: to the Moon, plenty of impressive photos similar to the 104 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:09,520 Speaker 1: Blue Marble have been taken. However, they've all been captured 105 00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:14,600 Speaker 1: by satellites and most are composites assembled from different images 106 00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:18,920 Speaker 1: in order to depict a globe with ideal weather. As 107 00:07:18,920 --> 00:07:23,680 Speaker 1: a result, the original photo from two still holds deep 108 00:07:23,720 --> 00:07:27,200 Speaker 1: significance as the only full view of the Earth with 109 00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:31,760 Speaker 1: a human eye behind the lens. In that way, it 110 00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:35,800 Speaker 1: doesn't really matter who snapped the photo. The important thing 111 00:07:35,960 --> 00:07:39,480 Speaker 1: is that we have it a breathtaking reminder that, when 112 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:43,640 Speaker 1: faced with the Blue Marble, we and our differences and 113 00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:46,720 Speaker 1: all the things that pull us apart are so much 114 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:53,240 Speaker 1: smaller than we fear. I'm gay, Bluesier, and hopefully you 115 00:07:53,320 --> 00:07:56,640 Speaker 1: now know a little more about history today than you 116 00:07:56,680 --> 00:08:00,720 Speaker 1: did yesterday. If you enjoyed today's episode, let us know 117 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:04,400 Speaker 1: by leaving the show a review on Apple Podcasts. You 118 00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:07,160 Speaker 1: can also keep up with us on Twitter, Facebook, and 119 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:11,200 Speaker 1: Instagram at t d i HC Show, and you can 120 00:08:11,240 --> 00:08:14,440 Speaker 1: write directly to me at this day at I heeart 121 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:18,600 Speaker 1: media dot com. Thanks to Channeler Mays for producing the show, 122 00:08:18,880 --> 00:08:21,400 Speaker 1: and thank you for listening. I'll see you back here 123 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:34,520 Speaker 1: again tomorrow for another day in history class. For more 124 00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:38,000 Speaker 1: podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 125 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:39,720 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.