4.1.4 -
Day four marks the taking of one of the most famous photographs over taken.
It’s not the first time Earth was seen from orbit, as can be seen in the transcripts:
070:26:22 Lovell (onboard): Okay. Tell them I've got the earth in the sextant.
070:27:43 Lovell: Houston, Apollo 8. Just for your information, after we completed P52, I've acquired the Earth in the sextant. It's quite a sight from here.
But it is the first time it was seen and photographed rising over the lunar limb, thanks to the orientation of the spacecraft in orbit.
It’s worth checking where they were though, just to be on the safe side. The time of that conversation equates to 11:19 on the 24th, and figure 4.1.4.1 shows where they were and what they would have seen.
Half an hour or so before the exchange the crew were acquired by Honeysuckle Creek in Australia on their emergence from the lunar far side, and it should be obvious that Australia is still in view in the SkySafari estimate. The next orbit’s Earthrise was missed while the crew focussed on surface photography, and it’s not until orbit number 4 that the opportunity arises.
As it turns out, there are three images of the first Earthrise to be photographed, and they are from three different magazines, 12, 13, and 14. Of these three, the image from magazine 13 is the one chosen as the first, and will be used in comparison with the satellite images. AS08-
Figure 4.1.4.1: SkySafari representation of the first view of Earth from lunar orbit. The moon is scaled relative to the Earth, not how it would appear to anyone in orbit.
Figure 4.1.4.2: AS08-
Figure 4.1.4.3: ESSA-
c) My personal hard copy of the satellite image d)Digital 3D reconstruction using recovered ESSA with Google Earth view of the moon.
Figure 4.1.4.4a-
That the images all show the same event is obvious – the weather patterns and their distribution in each is identical. The sequence of images presented above is easy enough to determine. Magazine 13's contribution exists in isolation, as all the images around it are of the lunar surface, while magazine 14's image is one of a pair right at the beginning. The fact that it is clearly higher above the lunar surface than 13-
Magazine 12's contribution is also preceded entirely by lunar surface images, and as there is no lunar surface in it is obviously taken later than those from 13 and 14. While there are no lunar surface features visible to act as a comparison, a closer look at the weather system identified by the yellow arrow in figure 4.1.34 shows that it is noticeably closer to the terminator in 12-
Determining the time of the image is also simple enough, thanks to the visibility of Africa at the terminator. In order for Africa to be on the terminator, the image must have been taken at around 16:00-
We have the satellite photographs to use as a basis for determining which day the image was taken, and a look at the ESSA image shows the same features as the Apollo image on the mosaic dated the 24th. The previous day's mosaic shows that there are still two bands of clouds running from south America to the Antarctic (previously marked by purple and yellow arrows), while this Apollo image only shows one. On the following day, this band of cloud has pretty much separated from south America, rather than extending well into it. The configuration of the cloud mass off southern Africa (yellow arrow) is also different on all 3 days, and only matches exactly the one from the 24th.
The terminator on the 24th is best covered by orbit 1629 (track 13), which commenced at 14:00 on the 24th – just a couple of hours before the Apollo image was taken.
We have an additional source for this historic moment in the mission transcripts. As any conversations concerning Earthrises as they happen are not in the main transcript referred to previously (as this is the technical air to ground, or TEC, transcript), we need to turn to transcripts of the CM voice recordings, which captured the crew's conversations as they passed over the far side after LOS.
A pdf of the document itself is available here, but there is a more readable transcript of the event at the AFJ. Joining the CM and TEC transcripts gives us a complete record of the moment. At 74:40 MET, or 15:31 on the 24th, the crew are engaged in a session of lunar photography of both planned targets and 'targets of opportunity', and they describe in detail which magazines have been used and how many shots have been taken on the three revolutions completed so far. The main significance of this is to set a context for what comes next – the crew didn't suddenly decide to take photos, they were actively photographing the Moon when the Earth came in to view.
At 75:30, or 16:21, the CM starts its 4th orbit, and the lunar module pilot Bill Anders appears to be the person taking surface pictures with magazine 13 (originally labelled 'E'), as he is the one recording the frame numbers and technical details about the photographs. At 75:46 MET, the CM pitches on command and we have the following exchange:
075:47:30: Oh, my God! Look at that picture over there! Here's the Earth coming up. Wow, is that pretty!
075:47:37: Hey, don't take that, it's not scheduled. (Chuckle.)
The AFJ site is more circumspect than the CM transcript, and is not specific as to who actually took the photograph, while the latter has the Anders saying the “don't take that” line and the Borman exclaiming about the view. As Anders was the person in charge of the black & white film prior to this, it perhaps seems reasonable to assume that it was he that took this historic image.
The AJF's author (David Woods, also the author of How Apollo Flew to the Moon) argues that Anders was committed to the photography aspect, and would have been more likely to have been the person making the admonishment about deviating from the schedule.
A few moments later, the crew (at Anders' prompting) scrabble for the colour film in an effort to capture the moment before finally:
075:48:49 Lovell: Well, I got it ri -
075:48:54 Lovell: 250 at f/11.
075:49:07 Anders: Okay.
075:49:08 Lovell: Now vary the -
075:49:09 Anders: I did. I took two of them.
Anders, then, is definitely the person who took the colour photographs that launched a thousand environmental movements. While the debate about how took the first image is somewhat esoteric (although to this author's mind the person who took the monochrome would be the person who wanted an even better colour shot, ie Anders!), the main issue as far as this research is concerned is the timing of the images. 75:47 MET is 16:38 GMT on 24/12/68 – just a few minutes short of SkySafari's estimate for an image that matches exactly a satellite mosaic that was taken at the same time. There is no record of when magazine 12's image was taken, although Anders is exhorted to “get another one”.
Dean Talboys, in this video, makes a huge mountain out of the molehill of failing memories of ageing astronauts by noting the various discrepancies between Borman and Anders’ accounts in terms of who took the photo, which camera they used, whether there was a light meter and so on and so on. Because old men are forgetful, he concludes that the images were faked. What he avoids is any discussion of what’s actually in the Earthrise images: verifiable weather records unique to the time Earthrise was taken. He even, without comment, compares the photograph discussed next and notes Earth’s rotation in it -
That next image is AS08-
Figure 4.1.4.5: AS08-
Figure 4.1.4.6: Top row -
As before, the black and white image is matched by a colour image, in this case AS08-
The AFJ originally had the magazine 12 image timed as occurring after TEI (Trans-
The TEI burn occurred at 06:10 on the 25th, and we already know that in order for South America to be visible in this way it would need to be around 18:30-
In terms of the weather systems, it is obvious that they are the same ones as viewed in figure 4.1.4.3 -
We do have a small clue from the CM transcript. Orbit 5 commenced at 77:29 MET, or 18:21 on the 25th. Twenty minutes after this at about the time when the Earth would be rising, we have the following exchange between the crew members:
03 05 43 46 CMP: Bill, ... Do you know I can see the horizon? Can you see the horizon?
03 05 43 59 LMP: Pitch up?
03 05 44 00 CMP: Yes, pitch up to –
03 05 44 20 CDR: Pitch is about 50.
03 05 44 23 CMP Can you pitch up some more?
03 05 45 20 CMP No, that's about right. Let's take pictures of ...
While they aren't specific, they are evidently still taking photographs, and keen to orient the spacecraft to an angle that would allow them to take a photograph of something specific. The contention here is that it is the Earth, now showing above the horizon. The time in days, hours and minutes shown above converts to 77:45 MET, or 18:35 (which is the time used to set SkySafari. SkySafari and the photographs in magazines 12 and 14 show the same configuration of land masses, puts the spacecraft at the right place, and the Apollo images show the same weather patterns as the satellite mosaic on the 24th.
The ESSA orbit for the terminator on these two images is best covered by track number 2, or orbit 1631, which commenced at 18:00.
There are no more pictures of Earth in magazine 12, but the next sequence of images in magazine 14 show another Earthrise. They could be mistaken for a continuation of the sequence just examined, but a closer look (and the fact that the first in the sequence is lower on the horizon than the previous one!) shows it is from a separate event.
The only one of these images where the Earth is completely above the horizon and fully visible is AS08-
Figure 4.1.4.7: AS08-
Figure 4.1.4.8: ESSA-
On the face of it this image is very different to the previous ones, but once Chile is glimpsed by the terminator it becomes evident that it is just a continuation of the previous ones, and that a couple more orbits have elapsed, allowing the Earth to rotate a little more. The purple and blue arrows point to the same weather systems as in the preceding analysis, while the remainder indicate those that have come into view as time has elapsed.
As with the previous Earthrise photographs, even if there is no direct reference to a photograph, there is a hint in the crew dialogue, and we know from the mission programme that photographs are still being taken as mission progresses. At 71:43 MET (22:34 GMT), we have the following exchange after the start of orbit 7:
03 09 43 06 CDR: Oh, brother! Look at that!
03 09 43 16 CMP: What was it?
03 09 43 18 CDR Guess.
03 09 43 20 CMP Tsiolkovsky? [a lunar far side crater]
03 09 43 21 CDR No, it's the Earth coming up
SkySafari has been set at 22:30, and it is again obvious that the land masses visible are a clear match with what can be seen on the Apollo photograph. As the Pacific is now in view, ATS-
There are no more images from the 24th, and preparations for TEI mean that no more photographs are taken of Earth until after that burn has taken place. Clickl the links for dat 5 of the mission.
