Questions about The Blue Marble

Short answers, pulled from the story.

Who took the original Blue Marble photograph on Apollo 17?

Harrison Schmitt took the original Blue Marble photograph on Apollo 17. He held a Hasselblad camera with an 80-millimeter Zeiss lens and pressed the shutter at 05:39 a.m. EST on the 7th of December 1972.

When was the first Blue Marble image released by NASA?

NASA released the first Blue Marble image on the 7th of December 1972 during the Apollo 17 mission. The official designation for this specific shot is AS17-148-22727.

What year did Stewart Brand campaign to release satellite images of Earth?

Stewart Brand campaigned since 1966 to release a satellite image of the entire Earth. His efforts included selling buttons for 25 cents each and meeting Buckminster Fuller to advance his project.

Which instrument provided data for the Blue Marble 2012 composite image?

Data for the Blue Marble 2012 composite image came from the Visible/Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite instrument aboard Suomi NPP. Six orbits provided data over an eight-hour period on the 4th of January 2012.

How often does the Deep Space Climate Observatory capture new color images of Earth?

The EPIC science team plans to upload 13 new color images per day using the Deep Space Climate Observatory. The instrument views Earth from sunrise to sunset 12 to 13 times daily as the planet rotates.

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