During their ten orbits around the Moon on Christmas Eve, the three astronauts, whose movements were televised to millions around the world, photographed the Earth rising above the lunar horizon and appearing as a blue sphere against the pitch-black sky. However, only Lieutenant Commander Anders, who oversaw the spacecraft’s electronic and communications systems, captured color film.
His photograph shook the world: Known as “Earthrise,” it was featured on a 1969 postage stamp with the words “In the beginning God…,” inspired the first Earth Day in 1970, and appeared on the cover of Life magazine’s 2003 book, “100 Photos That Changed the World.”
Just minutes before Anders began taking photographs, the astronauts could be heard on the onboard recorder expressing awe at what they were seeing.
Anders: Oh my goodness! Look at that picture there. The Earth is floating. Wow, that’s beautiful.
Bowman: [chuckle] Hey, don’t take that, it’s not on the agenda.
Anders: [laughter] Jim, do you have any color film? Can you give it to me right away?
Lovell: Oh, that’s wonderful.
Decades later, in a 2015 interview with Forbes magazine, Anders said of Earthrise, “The view highlights the beauty and fragility of the Earth. It was a catalyst for the environmental movement.”
But he said he was surprised at how people’s memories of the men behind the photo had faded. “It’s strange that the press and people on the ground have forgotten about our history-making voyage, and that the symbol of that flight is now the ‘Earthrise’ photo,” he said. “We came all the way to the Moon to discover Earth.”
At the end of their Christmas Eve television broadcast, the Apollo 8 astronauts read the first verse of Genesis.
