Science Trumped Wonder in NASA’s Early Days

I’m reading a book, Earthrise: How Man First Saw the Earth, by Robert Poole. It’s fascinating reading, and it centers on how those early photos of the earth from space changed our culture.

Not Too Interested in Our Home Planet

And perhaps the most interesting point of the book is this: parts of a science-obsessed NASA generally wasn’t interested in getting those photos of earth from space. Except for weather satellites—to get a better understanding of those cloud formations—the earth photos were discouraged in the early years…and are, therefore, relatively rare.

Our Goal Was: The Moon

Of course, this was somewhat understandable. We had decided that our goal was to get to the moon by the end of the decade. That was a pretty tall order. So, for example, the early unmanned lunar spacecraft concentrated on getting images of potential landing sites. And it was risky to the mission to photograph the earth.

The Camera Were Facing “Down”

Although “up” and “down” don’t mean much in space, the Lunar Orbiter’s camera faced the moon while it was in orbit there. To take a picture of the Earth, it would need to re-orient itself to face the Earth. And, if it failed to get back into its original position, the mission would be a failure.

Langley, the research center that handled the mission, was opposed to trying to get the picture. But HQ wanted the it. The picture was taken, and the mission was completed successfully, But, the idea of taking the picture was very impractical…and irresistibly human.

Earthrise, as seen from Lunar Orbiter 1, August 1966