[Apollo 8]

THE FIRST EARTHRISE TO BE SEEN BY HUMAN EYES. 

When the spacecraft came out from behind the Moon, Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, William Anders witnessed "Earthrise" for the first time in human history. It was Anders who first saw the Earth cresting the lunar horizon. Initially, he took a black and white photo, but then asked Lovell for a color film. It was this second photo that was chosen by Life magazine as one of its hundred photos of the century. 

Anders said of the incredible moment: "We'd spent most of our time on Earth training about how to study the Moon, how to go to the Moon; it was very lunar oriented. And yet, when I looked up and saw the Earth coming up on this very stark, beat-up lunar horizon, and Earth that was the only color that we could see, a very fragile-looking Earth, a very delicate looking Earth, I was immediately almost overcome by the thought that here we came all this way to see the Moon, and yet the most significant thing we're seeing is our own home planet, the Earth." (Poole)

Lovell’s description of the lunar surface to Mission Control is possible to hear or read in the mission transcript at 02: 21: 51: 16: “OK Houston: The moon is essentially gray, no color. Looks like plaster of Paris on sort of grayish beach sand..” Lovell later observed: “The vastness up here of the Moon is awe inspiring. It makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth. The Earth from here is a grand oasis in the blackness of space.” 

This image emphasizes both sentiments expressed by Lovell. The gray of the moonscape in the foreground highlights the luminous blue of the Earth in space. 

LITERATURE

Poole, Robert. Earthrise: How Man First Saw the Earth, p. 2; Schick and Van Haaften, The View From Space: American Astronaut Photography 1962-1972, p. 98.

Apollo 8 PAO Mission Commentary, 24 Dec 1968. GET 694623, CST. Accessed 12 May 2026.