The Most Mind-Blowing Images Ever Taken of Earth from Space

We have been capturing space-based images of Earth for nearly three-quarters of a century, but these eight views of Earth are each profound in their own way.

It's hard to believe that the pre-spaceflight era was when people were forced to use their imaginations. The first suborbital images of Earth were cause for celebration, but we couldn't imagine what was to come. We took pictures of Earth from the Moon, a neighboring planet, and from deep within the solar system within a few years.

It is hard to believe, but this photo of Earth was taken 11 years before the Soviet Union launched Sputnik. The first view of Earth from space was taken by a modified V-2 rocket, which the Nazis used to kill Britons during the Second World War. The rocket took a photo five times higher than the previous record, when it flew to a maximum height of 65 miles.

The first time a view of Earth was captured from the vicinity of the Moon was on August 23, 1966. The photo was transmitted to NASA's tracking station at Robledo De Chavela near Madrid, Spain.

The Apollo 8 mission to the Moon captured this view of Earth with the rugged lunar landscape in the foreground. The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth.

One of the most recognizable photos of Earth is this one. It was taken by the Apollo 17 crew on December 7, 1972 The NASA astronauts took a photo at a distance of 18,000 miles. The frame has Africa, Madagascar, and the Arabian Peninsula in it.

The last shot of Earth and the Moon was taken by NASA's Voyager 1 spaceship. It is the first view of the two bodies in isolation. At the time, it was 7.25 million miles from Earth. The image was made from three photos and the Moon's brightness was enhanced for clarity.

The farthest view of Earth ever taken by a spaceship is the Pale Blue Dot. The NASA probe was close to the Sun. Carl Sagan wrote in his book that he should look at that dot again. That is here. That's where I am. That's us.

The first image of Earth was taken on another planet. The mosaic photo from Mars was taken in 2004.

The view of Earth and the Moon was captured by the rover on January 31, 2014. The image was taken around 80 minutes after sunset, when Earth was the most visible object in the sky. The Red Planet was 99 million miles from Earth when the image was taken.

The moon could be seen if you zoom in and add some background darkness.

The mosaic image was captured by the wide-angle and narrow-angle cameras. The NASA probe was so far away that Earth and the Moon appeared as a single dot.

The location of Mars and Venus is shown in an annotated view. The bright dot to the left is Enceladus, while the bright dot at the bottom- left is Tethys. At least 15 objects or phenomena are visible in the frame, which NASA stitched together from more than 300 images.