Earth Photos from Space

The first earth photos from space came to us when the early astronauts snapped a few primitive pictures of the earth from tiny portholes in their craft. Those first photos were interesting due to their never-see-before perspective high above the planet, but now that space exploration has been in practice for many years, thousands of very high quality images of the Earth have been captured by the different astronauts and equipment traveling the heavens.

The practice of studying the earth’s geology from satellites in space began in the 1970’s with the Landsat program. The Landsat program sent the first scientifically useful images of the earth taken from on high, back to land bases every 18 days. Things have improved quite a bit since then. Today, there are hundreds of satellites in orbit and snapping excellent images of the earth from around the world 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And now much of the photography of earth from space is posted online where it can be accessed and viewed for free. Internet users all over the world have found that photos of earth from space are entertaining and useful tools for educational purposes, weather forecasting and many other scientific uses or just for the sake of entertainment. The quality of the images have improved greatly since the first astronaut photos and photos from space are heavily used in industries such as construction, security, traffic, weather, tourism, and the news media.

Thousands of earth photos from space have been compiled by NASA and foreign space agencies that are now available for public viewing online. The Hubble Telescope has been snapping photos from space for several years now. The famous observatory in space recently received maintenance, updates and repairs, and now the images it is capturing are better, brighter, clearer, more detailed and astoundingly beautiful in most cases. Prior to this era, mankind had never seen it our home the way it looks from space. As a result, there is a certain undeniable fascination that everyone experiences when they see earth photos from space for the first time.

In addition to the Hubble images, many other satellites and craft have contributed to the treasure trove of earth photos too. Photos from the Spitzer Space Telescope and mission images taken during the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Space Shuttle, and Space Station programs are now all available for easy online viewing. NASA’s Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth now contains over one million images alone, and admission to the show is completely free.