Who took the Earthrise photograph on December 24 1968?
Astronaut William Anders captured the Earthrise photograph during the Apollo 8 mission. He served as the scientific crew member and performed all photography duties for the spacecraft.
Questions about Earthrise
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What camera equipment did William Anders use to take the Earthrise photo?
Anders used a highly modified Hasselblad 500 EL camera with an electric drive and a 70 mm film magazine containing custom Ektachrome film. The exposure settings were set to 1/250th of a second at f/5.6.
Where was the original Earthrise image processed after the Apollo 8 mission returned?
NASA technicians drove four hours from Houston to Corpus Christi, Texas to process the images at R&R Photo Studio & Color Labs. Raul Rodriguez operated this family-run facility which was the only place in South Texas capable of handling professional 220-size film.
Did Frank Borman actually take the famous Earthrise photograph?
No, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center employee Ernie Wright produced video evidence proving that William Anders took all three shots. Transcript data and matching cloud patterns confirmed the color photograph belonged to Anders alone despite earlier claims by Borman.
When did the International Astronomical Union officially name craters seen in the Earthrise photo?
In October 2018 two craters received official names from the Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature. They were designated as Anders' Earthrise and 8 Homeward following their previous designation with letters.