The Lunar Orbiter 1 launched in 1966 to map the Moon's surface in preparation for human visits. While subsequent Apollo missions produced more vivid snapshots of Earth from the Moon, this robotic image holds one distinction:

"That was the first time that we got a look at our own planet," says Van der Woude. "And it was very, very sharp, very high resolution, even for those days. And it was a gorgeous photograph."

He explains that back then an image arrived in pieces, long narrow strips called "sausages" by those who had to tape them together.