160. [Apollo 8] THE RECEDING PLANET EARTH (triptych) AS HUMANITY ESCAPES ITS GRAVITY FOR THE FIRST TIME William Anders, 21-27 December 1968 Printed 1968. Three vintage gelatin silver prints on fibre-based paper [B&W versions of NASA images AS8-16-2581, AS8-16-2589 and AS8-16-2593]. The first blank on the reverse (issued by NASA), the second with NASA caption numbered "AS8-16-2588" on the reverse (issued by NASA Manned Spacecraft Centre, Houston, Texas), the third with NASA caption dated "12/29/1968" and numbered "9-71-878" on the reverse (issued by NASA Marshall Space Flight Centre, Huntsville, Alabama). Each: 25.4 x 20.3 cm. (10 x 8 in.) Historical context The remarkable series of Earth photographs taken by William Anders after translunar injection as Apollo 8 departed its home planet for the Moon. This includes the first photograph taken by humans beyond Earth orbit from an altitude of 5,600 km, the first photograph of Earth's disk from about 12,000 km, and the first-ever whole Earth view from 27,000 km—farther than any humans had travelled before—forever changing our perspective on ourselves. "I was just wishing I could spin it [the Earth] around and look at the rest of it " commented William Anders. (Chaikin, Voices, p. 26)