206. [Apollo 10] 'UNBELIEVABLE' VIEW OF PLANET EARTH Thomas Stafford, 18-26 May 1969 Printed 1969. Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA image AS10-34-5013]. With "A Kodak Paper" watermark on the reverse (issued by NASA / North American Rockwell, Downey, California). (North American Rockwell was NASA's prime contractor for the Apollo Command and Service Modules) 20.3 x 25.4 cm. (8 x 10 in.) Historical context From 21,000 nautical miles away, Thomas Stafford captured this breathtaking Hasselblad photograph through the 80mm lens while the crew simultaneously broadcast a live colour TV transmission to Mission Control. Awestruck by the sight of Earth suspended in the void, Eugene Cernan exclaimed, "You blink your eyes, and you look out there, and you know it's [the Earth] three-dimensional, but it is just sitting out there in the middle of nowhere, and it's unbelievable." (See mission transcript.) From the mission transcript as Apollo 10 and Mission Control in Houston commented on the view: 005:04:00 Public Affairs Office (Mission Control): Apollo 10 is going to try to bring up another live colour TV show, showing the Earth. We'll stand by for this transmission. Apollo 10's distance from the Earth now 21,119 nautical miles. Velocity; 13,170 feet per second. 005:05:27 Cernan: Charlie, if you see this, it's going to be out of this world, literally. [...] 005:06:54 Stafford: I figure right there you should be able to see the United States, Mexico, Baja California. 005:06:57 Duke (Mission Control): Hey, it's really beautiful, Tom. It (the TV)'s coming in great. 005:07:01 Stafford: You ought to see it up here, Charlie. 005:07:03 Young: We've got the whole globe there. [...] 005:08:10 Stafford: Okay. And it looks like the Rocky Mountains are orange coloured to me. The rest of U.S., Baja California, that really stands out as all brownish, and the oceans are blue; but there are so many clouds out to the northeast of the United States, you can't believe it. Covers the Far East over to Europe as far as you can see. [...] 005:10:05 Duke (Mission Control): Okay, this has got to be the greatest sight ever. 005:10:08 Stafford: You ought to see it up here. [...] 005:10:57 Cernan: Charlie, this is - It's so hard to describe. You can go right up past Alaska, and you can see the polar caps. It's incredible. [...] 005:11:12 Cernan: That's great. And the blackest black that you ever could conceive is the setting for all this. [...] 005:11:53 Cernan: Charlie, you know, you blink your eyes and you look out there and you know it's three dimensional, but it is just sitting out there in the middle of nowhere and it's unbelievable. Literature LIFE, 6 June 1969, pp. 38-39 The View from Space: American Astronaut Photography, 1962–1972, Schick and Van Haaften, p. 53 Moon: Man's Greatest Adventure, Thomas, ed., p. 171 Apollo: Through the Eyes of the Astronauts, Jacobs, p. 52