<![CDATA[The difference that 60 years makes.]]>The difference that 60 years makes.

The first image is the world's first view of Earth taken by a from the vicinity of the .

The photo was transmitted to by the United States Lunar Orbiter I and received at the tracking station at Robledo De Chavela near Madrid, Spain.

This crescent of the Earth was photographed August 23, 1966 at 16:35 GMT when the spacecraft was on its 16th orbit and just about to pass behind the Moon.

The second image is the earthset captured by the II mission in 2026.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/topic/5430ad9d-3eaf-43d2-bcbf-f39a5171ad86/the-difference-that-60-years-makes.RSS for NodeSat, 11 Apr 2026 05:06:31 GMTFri, 10 Apr 2026 12:04:26 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to The difference that 60 years makes. on Fri, 10 Apr 2026 14:14:31 GMT]]>The first picture wasn't limited by camera technology but by communications. The first space based image of the Earth was 20 years earlier, taken on film by a rocket that parachuted the camera back to surface. Lunar Orbiter didn't have that option..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_first_images_of_Earth_from_space
@mustapipa @tymwol

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mas.to/users/osma/statuses/116380825753448770https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mas.to/users/osma/statuses/116380825753448770Fri, 10 Apr 2026 14:14:31 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The difference that 60 years makes. on Fri, 10 Apr 2026 13:57:37 GMT]]>@mustapipa Didn't we get an almost-as-good image already in Dec. 1968?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://fediscience.org/users/PWei888/statuses/116380759321308301https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://fediscience.org/users/PWei888/statuses/116380759321308301Fri, 10 Apr 2026 13:57:37 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The difference that 60 years makes. on Fri, 10 Apr 2026 13:41:02 GMT]]>@tymwol Not sure if they used the newest cameras in 1966 either...

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://scicomm.xyz/users/mustapipa/statuses/116380694128120574https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://scicomm.xyz/users/mustapipa/statuses/116380694128120574Fri, 10 Apr 2026 13:41:02 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The difference that 60 years makes. on Fri, 10 Apr 2026 13:40:35 GMT]]>@TheDJ Many thanks, I wasn't aware of those. A much fairer comparison indeed.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://scicomm.xyz/users/mustapipa/statuses/116380692374556323https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://scicomm.xyz/users/mustapipa/statuses/116380692374556323Fri, 10 Apr 2026 13:40:35 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The difference that 60 years makes. on Fri, 10 Apr 2026 13:11:51 GMT]]>@mustapipa
In October of 1959, the Russian Luna 3 spacecraft launched and later took the first photos of the far side of the Moon.
NASA comparison of that and later LRO in 2009:
https://science.nasa.gov/resource/first-photo-of-the-lunar-far-side/

I'm not convinced about sending people to the Moon (no matter if China or USA) and Mars rather than machines.

There needs to be co-operation, not competition to send people or exploit.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.ie/users/raymaccarthy/statuses/116380579340686564https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.ie/users/raymaccarthy/statuses/116380579340686564Fri, 10 Apr 2026 13:11:51 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The difference that 60 years makes. on Fri, 10 Apr 2026 13:11:14 GMT]]>@mustapipa and this is a comparison of the original and the reprocessed version of that first image, read back from the analog original tapes, but using modern technology.

Done by the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project in 2008

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Orbiter_Image_Recovery_Project

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/TheDJ/statuses/116380576914616473https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/TheDJ/statuses/116380576914616473Fri, 10 Apr 2026 13:11:14 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The difference that 60 years makes. on Fri, 10 Apr 2026 12:56:36 GMT]]>@mustapipa to be more precise, this is 50 years difference in technology as they were using Nikon d5 camera, which is already 10 years old.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/tymwol/statuses/116380519397127147https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/tymwol/statuses/116380519397127147Fri, 10 Apr 2026 12:56:36 GMT