Recreating the First Earthrise
How and why the Apollo 8 astronauts photographed the first Earthrise over the moon, 45 years ago
Using modern data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft, the visualization specialists at NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center and Apollo historian (and Air & Space contributor) Andrew Chaikin have teamed up to produce this video that explains how and why the famous "Earthrise" picture was taken on Christmas Eve, 1968.
Exactly who should get credit for that picture was the subject of good-natured teasing between astronauts Jim Lovell and Bill Anders for years. Chaikin offers a new (and final?) take: Anders took the photo, but it was really a group effort.
