
Nasa Used Art to Shape Our Vision of the Future - tosh
https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-nasa-art-shape-vision-future
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interfixus
> _In Earthrise (1968), the first color photograph of Earth captured by a
> human being_

Even mercifully assuming they mean "photograph of the _entire_ Earth", this is
clearly nonsense. The Apollo 8 crew got excellent shots of our planet long
before they entered lunar orbit.

In a linked article on the same site, they claim that "We Only Had One
Photograph of the Entire Earth—until Three Years Ago".

Please!

~~~
theoh
Do you have a link to the earlier Apollo 8 images?

The second article is about the ability of the DSCOVR satellite to capture
full-disc images of the Earth (no mosaicing). "Other images of Earth were
created using digital stitching techniques, but for 43 years, until DSCOVR’s
launch, it was also the only full-disc image of the Earth in existence."

That seems like it could be true, in the absence of counterexamples.

~~~
makerofspoons
The Pale Blue Dot image from Voyager 1 is technically a full-disc image of the
Earth, just not a very detailed one:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_Blue_Dot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_Blue_Dot)

~~~
theoh
Hmmm, is the Pale Blue Dot single-pixel sample of Earth really "full disc" in
the sense that the face of the Earth is fully illuminated, not a crescent?

Anyway, this text is clear: "Alternately known as Triana, Goresat, or by its
current name, DSCOVR (Deep Space Climate Observatory), it’s the first earth
science mission distant enough from our planet to capture its entire sunlit
surface in a single photograph (only one such photograph, shot from Apollo 17,
was previously in existence). And it does so multiple times a day, every
day—with the results posted online by NASA, ready for public consumption
within 12 to 36 hours."

We can get pedantic about this, but the message of the second article is that
the occasion when the Blue Marble was taken was a rare opportunity, with the
consequence that there wasn't _really_ a choice or supply of up-to-date full-
disc images until DSCOVR.

([https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-one-
photograph...](https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-one-photograph-
entire-earth-three-years-ago))

None of us here actually knows everything about these complex space
exploration missions, let alone participated in them. It looks pretty silly
and pretentious to try playing "know it all" about an endeavour that is way
above our pay grade.

~~~
makerofspoons
I was actually just trying to be funny, my apologies.

