Follow Us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter On October 24, 1946, a V-2 rocket captured the first photograph of Earth from space. While these grainy black and white images may not seem like much today, they were a big deal at the time, because no one had seen Earth from space before. The V-2 rocket was launched from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. He carried a 35-millimeter film camera that captured a new frame every second and a half. The rocket rose to an altitude of about 65 miles before falling back to Earth. Both the rocket and the camera were destroyed after crashing into Earth at a speed of approximately 340 miles per hour. But the film survived because it was protected inside a steel box. Scientists had to drive to the New Mexico desert to recover the film. When they first saw the images, scientists were literally jumping for joy. This photo is the first view of Earth from space taken by a camera on a U.S. Army V-2 rocket launched from White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico on October 24, 1946. (Image credit: U.S. Army) How It Mattered The ability to photograph Earth from space fueled greater interest in continuing to advance into space and led to unexpected social changes in how humanity viewed its home planet. You may like For military and intelligence agencies, there was now the potential for reconnaissance on a much larger scale than was possible with high-altitude aircraft. That capability expanded to agricultural and meteorological purposes, eventually making Earth observation one of the most common reasons satellites and space stations are deployed into orbit today. Photography of the Earth from space also gave rise to the environmental movement, when people began to see the planet differently. The fragility of this orb became more evident, as the Earth now seemed like a “blue marble” in front of an endless black void. Want more space history? Check out our full archive of On This Day In Space stories and watch our On This Day In Space videos on YouTube. On this day in space! October 23, 2007: NASA launches the Harmony module to the ISS
