One of the most famous photographs of the Twentieth Century, dubbed “Earthrise”, was taken by astronaut William Anders from lunar orbit during the Apollo 8 mission on December 24, 1968 — 45 years ago today.
The Apollo 8 crew — Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders — were the first men to leave Earth orbit, giving us an utterly new viewpoint of our world from space.
The commemorative postal stamp was issued the next year; it quotes the first words of the Bible because the astronauts had taken turns reciting the first 10 verses of Genesis during a live television broadcast on Christmas Eve.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE-vOscpiNc&w=560&h=316]
