Saturday, December 7, 2013

Dec 07 - The Blue Marble***

Thursday, December 7, 1972 - Page 342
LOCATION: Newport Beach, Santa Ana, Anaheim

Once a photograph of the Earth, taken from the outside, is available — once the sheer isolation of the Earth becomes plain — a new idea as powerful as any in history will be let loose. -- Astronomer Fred Hoyle, 1948
Photo: NASA (wiki info)
72's NEWS: 12/7/1972
Astronauts on Apollo 17 took a famous photograph of Earth that came to be known as The Blue Marble. The photo captured 41 years ago was the first clear image of the Earth because the sun was at the astronauts' back so the planet appears lit up and you can distinctly see blue, white, brown, even green. It became a symbol of the environmental movement of the 1970s and it's the image that gets put on flags, T-shirts, bumper stickers, and posters.

[I also used this historic picture at the end of my Star*Reach graphic novelette, "Out of Space - Out of Time" — See it here: The Star Boundary ]

The crew of Apollo 17 was about 28,000 miles away from Earth when they snapped the Blue Marble picture. It was the last time that astronauts, not robots, were on a lunar mission — since then, no people have gotten far enough away from Earth to take a photo like it. -- Text from The Writer's Almanac (12/07/2013)

Another iconic photo of our planet known as Earthrise was taken on December 24, 1968 by Apollo 8. Here is NASA's recreation of that event.

(6:00 PM 12/9/1972)
I was about to leave for the bus at eight when Chunk appeared in the Barracuda. It was too wet to work (he's got a job in Laguna) and he came by for the money to buy the tool he needs -- I keep forgetting what it's called [probably a socket wrench]. I gave him $20 for it. He drove me to the Ivanhoe so I got there at 8:30, pro'ly the earliest I've ever started working. Wasn't much to do that day so I had to procrastinate alot. I vacuumed the pool and did some painting. I ate at the Hamburger House again, and Mike gave me money to get him a sandwich which I did.


Left around 4:00. While waiting for the RTD a guy in a van asked me where I got the hat. I told him South Dakota and he decided it was too far to go for a hat. I waited at the RTD terminal for a half hour. Got the Dave bus at 6:30. He got me a cup of coffee. It was a cold day, with temperatures in the lower 50's. I got off the bus and called Chunk, then walked to his apartment. The last half mile I had a ride from a guy who stopped for me. He was about 20, long haired & moustached. He told me the world was all fucked up & I agreed. He was a Capri - ah, Sagittarius he told me after asking what sign I was. Any way, I saw my Honda and played four games of chess, losing 3. Watched the beginning of a Bogart/Hepburn movie (The African Queen) and left at 9:40, walking home. It took me an hour to walk that far [about 5 miles]. It rained most of that night and some the next morning.
1951 Theatrical release poster
TOMORROW: Took a day off and drew a picture

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