On October 24, 1946, a V-2 rocket captured the first-ever photo of Earth from space. ‘On This Day in Space’ Video Series on Space.com
While these grainy, black-and-white images might not look like much today, they were a huge deal at the time, because no one had ever seen Earth from space before. The V-2 rocket launched from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. It carried a 35-millimeter motion picture camera that captured a new frame every second and a half. The rocket soared to an altitude of about 65 miles before falling back to Earth. Both the rocket and the camera were destroyed after crashing into the Earth at a speed of about 340 miles per hour. But the film survived because it was protected inside a steel case. Scientists had to drive out into the New Mexico desert to retrieve the film. When they saw the images for the first time, the scientists were literally jumping up and down with joy.
While these grainy, black-and-white images might not look like much today, they were a huge deal at the time, because no one had ever seen Earth from space before. The V-2 rocket launched from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. It carried a 35-millimeter motion picture camera that captured a new frame every second and a half. The rocket soared to an altitude of about 65 miles before falling back to Earth. Both the rocket and the camera were destroyed after crashing into the Earth at a speed of about 340 miles per hour. But the film survived because it was protected inside a steel case. Scientists had to drive out into the New Mexico desert to retrieve the film. When they saw the images for the first time, the scientists were literally jumping up and down with joy.
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TechTranscript
00:00On this day in space.
00:03On October 24th, 1946, a V2 rocket captured the first ever photos of Earth from space.
00:10While these grainy black and white images might not look like much today,
00:13they were a huge deal at the time because no one had ever seen Earth from space before.
00:18The V2 rocket launched from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
00:21It carried a 35mm motion picture camera that captured a new frame every second and a half.
00:27The rocket soared to an altitude of about 65 miles before falling back to Earth.
00:32Both the rocket and the camera were destroyed after crashing into the Earth at a speed of about 340 mph.
00:38But the film survived because it was protected inside a steel case.
00:42Scientists had to drive out into the New Mexico desert to retrieve the film.
00:47When they saw the images for the first time, the scientists were literally jumping up and down with joy.
00:52And that's what happened on this day in space.
00:55NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology