“For the astronauts, the most electrifying sight was the Earth rising behind the Moon’s bleached and lifeless horizon; indeed, all three felt that they had come all the way to another world to discover the one they had left behind” (Chaikin, Space, p. 52).

Borman took this photograph looking west across the 233-km Crater Pasteur with the 80mm lens during the 7th revolution around the Moon. “The vast loneliness up here of the Moon is awe inspiring, and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth. The Earth from here is a grand oasis in the big vastness of space. ” James Lovell (TV broadcast from lunar orbit). “The view of the Earth from the Moon fascinated me, a small disk, 240,000 miles away. It was hard to think that that little thing held so many problems, so many frustrations. Raging nationalistic interests, famines, wars, pestilence don’t show from that distance.” Frank Borman (LIFE, January 17, 1969).

From the mission transcript (photograph taken T+081:43:21 after launch):

081:21:41 Anders: Tell you what - Why don’t I give you that other camera? 081:21:45 Anders: You’ve got color film; why don’t you get a picture of the Earth as it comes up next time? [...] 081:28:47 Lovell: Still try to get a series, Frank, if you have a - [garble] you using 70-millimeter? 081:28:51 Borman: Yes [...] 081:43:06 Borman: Oh, brother! Look at that! 081:43:16 Lovell: What was it? 081:43:18 Borman: Guess. 081:43:20 Lovell: Tsiolkovsky? 081:43:21 Borman: No, it’s the Earth coming up. 081:43:22 Lovell: Oh. 081:43:29 Anders: Augh! Quit rocking the boat!