In December nineteen sixty-eight, three astronauts left Earth with a destination no one had reached before: lunar orbit.

Apollo Eight carried Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders to the Moon. On Christmas Eve, their spacecraft became the first crewed mission to orbit another world.

Then the view changed. Above the gray lunar horizon, Earth appeared: blue oceans, white clouds, and a small, bright home surrounded by darkness.

Anders photographed the scene. The image became known as Earthrise.

This was not the first photograph of Earth from near the Moon; an uncrewed spacecraft had already captured that view. What made this moment different was the human perspective.

They had traveled to study the Moon. The photograph invited everyone to look back at Earth. A journey outward had given us a new view of home.