The First Photo of Earth From the Moon Was Taken in 1966

August 23 marks exactly 58 years since the first photograph of planet Earth was taken from the Moon by NASA’s Lunar Orbiter 1 spacecraft.

The first photograph of Earth seen from the Moon was transmitted on August 23, 1966 from this spacecraft – integrated in the second US program of automatic detection of the Moon – to the Robledo de Chavela Space Station (Madrid).

Lunar Orbiter 1 was launched on August 10, 1966 and completed its mission on October 29, 1966. It was the first lunar photographic laboratory capable of modifying its orbit.

It took 207 photographs of the Moon from the landing areas of the Apollo missions. It was deliberately launched against the lunar surface to avoid interfering with the Lunar Orbiter 2 probe.