Original NASA photograph of the first Earthrise ever seen by human beings (24 Dec 1968)

Vintage Kodak chromogenic print on resin-coated paper.

NASA photograph AS8-14-2383 – “the most important photograph of the 20th Century.”

The first earthrise was observed by the crew of Apollo 8 at 075:48:39 hours of the mission and during the fourth orbit of the Moon. This view of the rising Earth greeted the Apollo 8 astronauts as they came from behind the Moon after the lunar orbit insertion burn. Earth is about five degrees above the horizon in this picture. The surface features in the foreground are near the eastern limb of the Moon as viewed from Earth. The lunar horizon is approximately 780 kilometres from the spacecraft. The width of the photographed area at the horizon is about 175 kilometres. On the Earth 240,000 statute miles away, the sunset terminator bisects Africa.

The verso bears the official stamp of the NASA Kennedy Space Center and the full details of the Apollo 8 mission.