December 21, 2018, marked 50 years since Apollo 8 launched into space. During this mission, William Anders took the spectacular photograph that came to be known as “Earthrise.” NBC’s TODAY show licensed the above image of Anders for an interview they held with him that aired December 20.
Anders loaded his camera with color film, put on a telephoto lens and started shooting – worrying all the while that he might not get the shot he was looking for. “When I was in high school, I had a 35-millimeter camera with roll-up film in it, and actually tried to develop it a little bit myself, which was usually a failure,” he told Smith. “But, you know, I knew the basics of f-stops and shutter speeds and that kind of thing. Could hardly call myself a photographer.”
Karsh photographed the three Apollo 8 astronauts, William Anders, Frank Borman and Jim Lovell, in April, 1969. (The image is yet to be digitized.)