NASA’s Lunar Orbiter 1 Captures First Earth View from Moon, Aug 1966

On August 23, 1966, NASA's Lunar Orbiter 1 captured the first-ever photograph of Earth from the Moon's orbit, showing our planet as a slender crescent rising above the lunar horizon. This grainy black-and-white image was an unplanned shot taken during the spacecraft’s 16th orbit and transmitted to a ground station near Madrid, marking a historic milestone in space exploration that changed humanity's perspective on Earth’s place in the cosmos. Lunar Orbiter 1, launched on August 10, 1966, was primarily tasked with mapping potential landing sites for the Apollo and Surveyor missions, using a camera system developed originally for Cold War reconnaissance satellites and adapted for deep-space use. Though not as sharp as later images, this photo provided unprecedented detail and paved the way for future iconic images like the Apollo 8 “Earthrise” photo in 1968. The mission lasted 76 days before the spacecraft was deliberately crashed into the Moon, but its contributions to lunar cartography and Earth observation remain significant. This first view of Earth from the Moon remains a powerful symbol of our planet’s fragility and unity.