Earthrise 1 Favorite 

Practitioner: 

Date: 

Dec 24 1968

Location: 

Moon

What he captured became one of the most influential images in history. A driving force of the environmental movement, the picture, which became known as Earthrise, showed the world as a singular, fragile, oasis.

Earthrise did not have an immediate impact. Its philosophical significance sunk in over years, after Nasa put it on a stamp, and Time and Life magazine highlighted it as an era-defining image. “It gained this iconic status,” Anders said. “People realised that we lived on this fragile planet and that we needed to take care of it.”

The image changed his life more personally, too. “It really undercut my religious beliefs. The idea that things rotate around the pope and up there is a big supercomputer wondering whether Billy was a good boy yesterday? It doesn’t make any sense. I became a big buddy of [the scientist] Richard Dawkins.”

Posted by Andy Bichlbaum on

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