Space Race

One of the dramatic moments of early space race and Americans sending men to the moon, to mainly beat the Soviets and to claim superiority over space, was Earthrise on the moon.

Earthrise - from Apollo 8 December 24, 1968

Never in the history of mankind did we realize how precious Earth is. While these pictures started the whole environmental movement of preserving earth for our future it also showed the stupidity of nuclear weapons being piled up by the then cold war adversaries.

In some ways seeing Earthrise may have turned into a longing for Earth rather than venture further into space, until now of course.

Writes Charles Krauthammer, a columnist with WaPo:

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With surpassing irony, it created at the very dawn of the space age a longing not for space but for home. [WP]

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