V-2 rocket launched from New Mexico in 1948 captured first photo of Earth from space

WHITE SANDS, N.M. (KRQE) – 78 years ago, the world got its first look at Earth from space and New Mexico played a key role in the effort.

It’s a common sight today, seeing satellites and even the International Space Station cross the New Mexico night sky. But 10 years before Sputnik would ignite the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union, V-2 rockets taken from Nazi Germany after World War 2 were fired from White Sands Missile Range. One would take the first picture of Earth from space 65 miles above.

The missile traveled at more than 4,000 feet per second with the black and white camera recording for about four and a half minutes of the flight. “The horizon, 720 miles away, and the curvature of the Earth are astonishingly apparent in this still picture from the film. An observer in the rocket could have seen San Diego, Salt Lake City, Kansas City, and San Antonio, approximately 1 million 600 hundred thousand miles from the earth were revealed,” said a news reporter.

An explosive would separate the protected camera from the missile hitting the ground at more than 340 miles per hour. Something that was built to do harm was now a symbol of space exploration.

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