Since we were hairy hunting watch - gatherer sitting around a campfire , humans have no doubt staredupat the Moon in awe and curiosity . But on August 23 , 1966 , we search back down for the first time .
That date marks the first photograph deal from the Moon ’s area . Its photographer was theLunar Orbiter 1,which register photographic data between August 18 and August 29 , 1966 , finally come to 42 high resolve and 187 medium resolving power frames taken from the lunar reach . This NASA ballistic capsule , launched on August 10 , 1966 , was also the first American space vehicle to orbit the Moon .
Of course , this was in the Clarence Shepard Day Jr. before digital picture taking . Inside Science News Servicereports the image were taken by a 70 - millimeter film camera . The simulacrum were then chemically developed on the flick , a bit like a Polaroid camera . It was then scanned and transmitted back to Earth using radio signal .
A accumulation of images of the Moon ’s surface postulate between August 18 and August29,1966 . NASA
“ The canonical idea was machinate to go to the moon for the Apollo missions , " Dave Williams , a planetal curation scientist at Goddard Space Flight Center , toldInside Science News Service . He explained that NASA " needed high - solvent pictures of the surface to check that this is something they could land on and piece out landing web site . "
But the delegation was much more than a logistical milestone in the space race . Although the exposure blench in comparison compared to iconic “ Earthrise ” coloration photographs taken just two years by and by , or the “ Blue Marble ” taken on the Apollo missions in 1972 , they mark a touching moment when humanity stopped simply staring at the sky above and start its biggest exploration ever .
you may see the full collection from Lunar Orbiter 1 ’s picture shootright here .
If you desire to see more incredible photography from the Moon , take in the twelvemonth after the Lunar Orbiter 1 mission , head over to theProject Apollo Archive , which features a bank building of images from the manned lunar landing place platform .
The Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project restored the original photograph in 2008 . NASA / Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project
