Favorite space photos

[fragtzack]

First would like to thank Kerbal Space Program for prompting my personal deeper dive into astrophysics, space and space history. As part of my research, reading and watching many documentaries  in the last 3 years I have some real photos in my head that ring as "great moments for humans in space".

 

1. The pale dot by Carl Sagan. Just incredible insight and significance of such a rather poor quality picture.  Truly a great picture in the history of all human pictures. Personal favorite.

2. EarthRise by Apollo 8 mission.  Wow, what beauty and amazement. Prompted the birth of US E.P.A. and inspired people all over the world.

3. Armstrong stepping off the lander ladder. Blurry terrible quality from the camera pointed at the ladder, but man oh man a human first stepping on  to the moon!

 

There is many modern great quality photos of space, but those 3 photos were epic moments in human space history. 

 

What is your favorite?

 

[Minmus Taster]

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

3 hours ago, fragtzack said:

1. The pale dot by Carl Sagan. Just incredible insight and significance of such a rather poor quality picture.  Truly a great picture in the history of all human pictures. Personal favorite.

me to!

[MKI]

4 hours ago, fragtzack said:

1. The pale dot by Carl Sagan. Just incredible insight and significance of such a rather poor quality picture.  Truly a great picture in the history of all human pictures. Personal favorite.

I'm actually reading his book on that picture. To quote it:

"But for us, it’s different. Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there—on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam."

It's hard to argue against the picture that essentially encapsulate all pictures.

 

4 hours ago, fragtzack said:

What is your favorite?

A personal favorite of mine was the SAOCOM 1A Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg back in 2018. I was fortunate enough to be able to see the launch in person during which I took a few photos. Its technically the first rocket launch I've ever seen "in person" even though I was a great distance away. 

[cubinator]

This book here: https://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/the-saturn-system.html

some breathtaking views of the Saturn system.

The first photo of a black hole, actually being able to look into a place where time and space end!

The video from Perseverance's descent, but particularly the moment where the heat shield drops away and reveals Mars

All the photos of astronauts walking on the Moon.

Something I would really like to see but that I don't think has ever been photographed is the Martian orbital sunset or sunrise.

And, of course, it isn't enough for me to just see these things in photos! I want to go to the Moon and see it in person! I would even go to Mars, and I think Mars exploration is one of the most important and pivotal things humanity will ever do.