TechEnvoke
Recently, SpaceX released some breathtaking video that was taken from the second stage of its dependable Falcon 9 rocket.
The video below depicts Earth from a distance of thousands of kilometers, with ocean, land, and cloud all being plainly visible. The planet’s marble-like appearance, which is most stunning, is reminiscent of the famous “blue marble” photograph taken by Apollo 17 in 1972, which offered us one of the first amazingly clear images of Earth.
The video was taken on March 17 during SpaceX’s mission to place the SES-18 and SES-19 communications satellites, which were built by Northrop Grumman and will offer C-band television and data services throughout the United States.
The Falcon 9 rocket from SpaceX was being used to launch the satellites into a geosynchronous transfer orbit when the footage was taken from the second stage.
This is the kind of breathtaking view that the astronauts on the upcoming Artemis II mission will get to experience when they go to the moon on a historic trip that is presently planned for next year.
The Orion spacecraft sent comparable magnificent images of Earth from 57,000 miles distant during the crewless Artemis I test voyage last year.
Since the final Apollo mission in 1972, a human-rated spacecraft had not captured photos of Earth from a great distance.
“The sights of our blue marble in the blackness of space are now captivating the imagination of a new generation, the Artemis generation,” a NASA representative remarked at the time.
The International Space Station, which orbits the Earth at a height of around 250 miles, allows astronauts to regularly take closer but no less amazing pictures of the planet. Although it is too close to depict our world as a sphere, the images of specific land and water characteristics are no less stunning.