The Spirit spacecraft landed on Mars in January 2004. Shortly after landing in Gusev Crater on Mars, Spirit wasted no time sending back photos of its new surroundings. A few months later, I took a stunning photo that provided a view of Earth of great interest.
“Shortly before dawn on March 8, the Spirit Camera was able to image Earth as a bright star, which appears very similar to Venus to ground-based observers. NASA said this was the first image of Earth from the surface of another planet.” In an article published this week on his website.
This was the first image of Earth from the surface of another planet
It took nearly 10 years for another NASA rover, Curiosity, to take its own image of Earth.This photo is from inside Gale Crater on Mars. The image from Curiosity stands out because it also shows the Moon even though it was taken 159 million kilometers away.
“These images, and others taken from Earth from increasingly distant points in the past eight decades, provide a new perspective on the place our planet occupies in the solar system,” NASA says.
Spirit explored the surface of Mars for about six more yearsThe vehicle's last contact was on March 22, 2010.
Meanwhile, Curiosity continues its work at Gale Crater to this dayand another rover, Perseverance — NASA's most advanced rover yet — has been exploring Jezero Crater since arriving there in spectacular fashion in February 2021.
In December 1968, the spacecraft took another iconic photo of EarthBut by retired astronaut Bill Anders during the Apollo 8 lunar mission.
In recent years, astronauts aboard the International Space Station have also taken stunning images of our planet from 250 miles up.
A journalist specializing in technology, entertainment and video games. Writing about what I'm passionate about (gadgets, games, movies) allows me to stay sane and wake up with a smile on my face when my alarm goes off. Note: This is not true 100% of the time.
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