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