Restored images of Earth captured during the Apollo missions cast new light on the fragility of our planet. <\/p>

The pictures of Earth against the blackness of space are perhaps the greatest legacy of the Apollo Program.<\/p>

More Earth from space<\/strong><\/h3>Grand Canyon from space<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/li>
Europe at night from space<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/li>
Great Wall of China from space<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><\/div>
Great Barrier Reef from space. Credit: NASA, M. Justin Wilkinson, Texas State U., Jacobs Contract at NASA-JSC<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
Apollo pictures of Earth from space<\/strong><\/h2> $\"One$
One of the most famous pictures of Earth from space, ‘Blue Marble’ was captured during Apollo 17 and revealed our planet as a beautiful yet fragile world. Click to expand. Credit: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Apollo pictures of Earth from space remain the most eye-catching.<\/p>
The contrast of the delicate blue and white sphere with the inhospitable void and barren Moon became the iconic image for the growing environmentalist movement.<\/p>
And the image of a world without borders helped people see a world more united than divided.<\/p>
But why haven\u2019t Apollo pictures of Earth from space, great as they are, been bettered by others since then?<\/p>
A key reason is that since the Apollo Program, astronauts have got no higher than low-Earth orbit \u2013 less than 1% of the way to the Moon.<\/p>
Taking a photo of Earth from there is like taking a portrait of a friend with the camera less than a centimetre from their face.<\/p>
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Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean pictured with one of the famous Apollo Hasselblad cameras used to capture pictures of Earth from space, mounted on his spacesuit, 20 November 1969. Click to expand. Credit: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>
You might be able to capture the texture of their skin, but any attempt to render their entire face would be distorted.<\/p>
And while some of the autonomous spacecraft destined for other worlds turned their sensors around for a parting shot, their cameras weren\u2019t designed for the job, producing inferior images.<\/p>
In contrast, as the Apollo astronauts travelled out towards the Moon, they reached the perfect distances for capturing pictures of Earth from space.<\/p>
NASA had provided some of the world\u2019s best equipment for photographing Earth: Hasselblad 500 EL cameras, Zeiss lenses and 70mm Kodak Ektachrome film.<\/p>
They were thus able to faithfully record Earth\u2019s true colours as they appeared to the human eye.<\/p>
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A remarkable view of Earth from Apollo 16, taken on 16 April 1972, reveals a world of blue and white with a hint of brown. Click to expand. Credit: NASA \/ Toby Ord<\/figcaption><\/figure>
If we look at this image from Apollo 16 (above), what we see isn\u2019t the bright green and blue circle that has come to represent our planet.<\/p>
Instead, it is primarily a world of blue and white, with brown continents and just a suggestion of muted green in places of lush vegetation:<\/p>
“I was able to look out the window to see this incredible sight of the whole circle of the Earth,” said Apollo 16\u2019s Charlie Duke.<\/p>
“Oceans were crystal blue, the land was brown, and the clouds and the snow were pure white. And that jewel of Earth was just hung up in the blackness of space.”<\/p>
Restoring Apollo Earth photographs<\/b><\/h2>
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A lesser-known crescent earthrise, captured during Apollo 12 on 19 November 1969. Click to expand. Credit: NASA \/ restored by Toby Ord<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Struck by the beauty of the most famous of these Apollo pictures of Earth from space, I wondered if there were more.<\/p>
So began a journey that would occupy my evenings over the next three years.<\/p>
I hunted through all 18,000 Hasselblad photos from the Apollo missions for the best images that time forgot, and digitally restored them to bring out their full glory.<\/p>
It was these lost images of Apollo that were the real rivals to the most well-known ones.<\/p>
One of my favourite hidden gems is the crescent earthrise from Apollo 12<\/a> (above).<\/p>
It was captured by Richard Gordon as he circled the Moon alone in the Command Module, awaiting his companions\u2019 return.<\/p>
It was overlooked for years as the original negative was poorly exposed and washed out.<\/p>
But as soon as I properly adjusted the levels, it took my breath away, revealing a haunting scene with an even more graceful and fragile view of the Earth and Moon than Apollo 8\u2019s famous \u2018Earthrise\u2019 photo.<\/p>
I chose it for the cover of my book The Precipice<\/i>, which looks at humanity\u2019s own fragility in these challenging times.<\/p>
Another one of my favourite pictures of Earth from space is from Apollo 13<\/a>.<\/p>
Two days in, the craft suffered a dramatic explosion, venting the contents of the Service Module\u2019s oxygen tanks into space, leaving the Command Module without enough breathable air to get home.<\/p>
This ethereal photo (below), at first appears to show the Moon, but it is really the crescent Earth amidst the ghostly reflections of the Lunar Module.<\/p>
They were 80,000km and seven hours away from safety \u2013 this photo captures this stolen moment, yearning for home.<\/p>
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A haunting view of a crescent Earth taken from inside Apollo 13\u2019s Lunar Module on 17 April 1970. Click to expand. Credit: NASA \/ restored by Toby Ord<\/figcaption><\/figure>
It was an absolute treat to be able to play a role in reviving these images. There are so many more great photos that have never been restored.<\/p>
But, since raw scans of all the images are publicly available, anyone can try their hand.<\/p>
View more Apollo images via the Apollo Archive Flickr page<\/a>. See more of Toby’s Apollo images at tobyord.com\/earth<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>
Apollo pictures of Earth from space gallery<\/strong><\/h2> $\"The$
The last image of the whole Earth taken by a human being, during Apollo 17, 17 December 1972. Credit: NASA \/ restored by Toby Ord<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
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Apollo 17 was the last crewed mission to the Moon, or as astronaut Gene Cernan would have put it, the ‘most recent’ crewed mission to the Moon. This crescent earthrise was captured on 16 December 1972. Credit: NASA \/ restored by Toby Ord<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
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An Apollo 15 earthrise, 4 August 1971. It may not seem it, but this image in in colour. The lunar surface is at the top of the image and Earth is below it, perhaps giving a more accurate depiction of the sensation of spaceflight. In space, there is no ‘up’! Credit: NASA \/ restored by Toby Ord<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
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A black and white earthrise captured during Apollo 14, 7 February 1971. When this image was taken, the astronauts were returning from the far side of the Moon on their journey home. Credit: NASA \/ restored by Toby Ord<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
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A crescent Earth surrounded by reflections of the Lunar Module during Apollo 13. The Lunar Module became the Apollo 13 astronaut’s only hope of survival once the Command Module lost power. This image was captured 3 days after the explosion on 17 April 1970. Home must’ve seemed a very long way away. Credit: NASA \/ restored by Toby Ord<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
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Apollo 12 slips out of Earth’s shadow, and the eclipse comes to an end. The astronauts can now see the Sun shining from behind Earth’s silhouette, 24 November 1969. Credit: NASA \/ restored by Toby Ord<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
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An attempt to capture a total eclipse of the Sun by the Earth with a long exposure during Apollo 12, 24 November 1969. A glowing ring of atmosphere can be seen around Earth, but the thin circle is blurred by hand shake and a camera malfunction has spread the light vertically across the image. Credit: NASA \/ restored by Toby Ord<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
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Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins captured this image of the Lunar Module carrying Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin back up to the Command Module after the mission that made them the first humans to step foot on the Moon, 21 July 1969. Credit: NASA \/ restored by Toby Ord<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
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A slightly more obscure image of our home planet, captured by Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin during the first crewed moonlanding. Earth as seen from the Lunar Module before it separated and descended to the surface of the Moon, 20 July 1969. Credit: NASA \/ restored by Toby Ord<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
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North America and the Pacific can be seen clearly in this view of Earth captured during Apollo 10, 18 May 1969. Credit: NASA \/ restored by Toby Ord<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
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Bill Anders’ famous colour earthrise shot, captured during Apollo 8, 24 December 1968. Credit: NASA \/ restored by Toby Ord<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
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The first earthrise photo, captured by Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders moments before his more famous colour shot, 24 December 1968. Credit: NASA \/ restored by Toby Ord<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
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The moment human beings saw the disc of Earth against the blackness of space with their own eyes. This image was captured during Apollo 8, 21 December 1968. Credit: NASA \/ restored by Toby Ord<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
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A view of the crescent Earth captured by an automatic camera during the Apollo 4 mission, 9 November 1967. Credit: NASA \/ restored by Toby Ord<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
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A haunting view of a crescent Earth, as taken from inside Apollo 13\u2019s Lunar Module on 17 April 1970. Credit: NASA \/ restored by Toby Ord<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
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A lesser-known crescent earthrise, as captured from Apollo 12 on 19 November 1969. Credit: NASA \/ restored by Toby Ord<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
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A remarkable view of Earth from Apollo 16, taken on 16 April 1972, reveals a world of blue and white with a hint of brown. Credit: NASA \/ Toby Ord<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/div>