NASA Looks Back at 50 Years of Earth Day

It’s been five decades since Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders photographed Earth peaking over the Moon’s horizon. The iconic image, dubbed Earthrise, inspired a new appreciation of the fragility of our place in the universe. Two years later, Earth Day was born to honor our home planet. As the world prepares to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, NASA reflects on how the continued growth of its fleet of Earth-observing satellites has sharpened our view of the planet’s climate, atmosphere, land, polar regions and oceans.

To view the full data visualizations that appear throughout, go to:
Music credit: "Crest of a Wave" from Universal Production Music

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Scientific Visualization Studio
Ryan Fitzgibbons (USRA): Lead Producer, Editor
Jefferson Beck (USRA): Lead Producer
Kathryn Mersmann (USRA): Lead Producer
Aaron E. Lepsch (ADNET): Technical Support
Samson K. Reiny (Wyle Information Systems): Producer
Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC): Lead Visualizer
Alex Kekesi (GST): Lead Visualizer
Cindy Starr (GST): Lead Visualizer
Trent L. Schindler (USRA): Lead Visualizer
Horace Mitchell (NASA/GSFC): Lead Visualizer
Kel Elkins (USRA): Lead Visualizer
Maria-Jose Vinas Garcia (Telophase): Lead Writer
Krystofer Kim (USRA): Lead Animator