The First Photograph of Earth from Space Was Taken in 1946

On October 24, 1946, scientists at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico mounted a camera on a captured German V-2 ballistic missile. It climbed to about 65 miles, just above the commonly accepted boundary of space, and took the first photograph of Earth from space.

The camera used 35 mm film, capturing a frame every one and a half seconds. A few minutes later, the rocket fell to Earth at more than 340 miles per hour, but the film survived. The flight was suborbital: the rocket did not reach orbit.

Image: Reinhard Link from Germany CC BY-SA 2.0 · License

Translation editor: Ловушкин А.