One Giant Leap for Mankind: Vintage Photographs from the Victor Martin-Malburet Collection  28 October 2022

National Geographic, May 1969, ppg. 608-609


This historic photograph was taken by William Anders with the 80mm lens after separation from the expended SIVB third stage following translunar injection. Already farther out in space than man has ever flown, Apollo 8’s crew at 3,500 miles gaze down on the shallow Bahama Banks (bottom of picture), turquoise against the darker, deeper Atlantic. Few clouds veil the southeastern coast of the United States and the West Indies (left of picture), but to the northeast a huge storm system swirls over the ocean. The spacecraft has now kicked out of Earth orbit toward the Moon. (National Geographic, May 1969, pg. 609)
LIFE, 10 January 1969, pg. 25; TIME, 10 January 1969, pg. 42

“This particular spot, the Bahamas lowland, was a turquoise jewel that you could see all the way to the Moon. It was like it was illuminated, like a piece of opal. And you could see that all the way. And I kept being amazed about that.”

—William Anders (Chaikin, Voices, pg. 26)