The crew of Apollo 17 took this photograph of Earth in December 1972 while the spacecraft was traveling between Earth and the Moon. The orange-red deserts of Africa and Saudi Arabia stand in stark contrast to the deep blue of the oceans and the white of both clouds and snow-covered Antarctica (at the bottom). The Apollo missions to the Moon allowed humans to view an entire hemisphere of Earth with their own eyes, an experience that influenced all the astronauts who took part in the lunar missions. Several astronauts returned with a strong impression of the fragile, delicate-looking planet on which we live. The photographs brought back by the astronauts allow the rest of the world to share in their unique perspectives.

Apollo photograph AS17-148-22727.

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