Lonely blue dot! Beyond moon, NASA's Orion looks back at Earth
A photograph taken by NASA's Orion spacecraft has given us a new perspective on our home planet.
The snap was taken during the Artemis I mission, which sent an uncrewed vehicle on a journey around the Moon and back in preparation for astronauts' planned lunar return in 2025.
We get pictures of Earth every day from satellites and the International Space Station. But there's something different about seeing ourselves from the other side of the Moon.
How does this image compare to other iconic views of Earth from the outside?
In December 1968, three astronauts were orbiting the Moon to test systems in preparation for the Apollo 11 landing. When they saw Earth rise over the lunar horizon, they knew this was something special. The crew scrambled to find colour film in time to capture it.
Photographer Galen Rowell called the resulting image “the most influential environmental photograph ever taken”.
Six years earlier, biologist Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring drew public attention to how human industries were harming terrestrial ecosystems.
The book ignited the environmental movement and laid the ground for the reception of Earthrise.
The economist Barbara Ward, author of Spaceship Earth and one of the founders of sustainable development, said: Above all, we are the generation to see through the eyes of the astronauts the astonishing ‘earthrise' of our small and beautiful planet above the barren horizons of the moon.
Indeed, we in this generation would be some kind of psychological monstrosity if this were not an age of intense, passionate, committed debate and search.
She saw Earthrise as part of the underpinning of a “moral community” that would enable a more equitable distribution of the planet's wealth.
The last Apollo mission
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