This Day in History, 1966: Lunar Orbiter Photographs Earth

Thirty-nine years ago today, NASA's Lunar Orbiter 1 spacecraft took the first pictures of the Earth from as far as away as the Moon's orbit. That very first photograph of the Earth taken from near the Moon can be found at this Earth Images - Distant Views page, thanks to Professor Steven Dutch of the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay. Most of us will probably recognize when we see it, I hope.

References:

• Wikipedia: Lunar Orbiter 1
  
• NSSDC Master Catalog: Lunar Orbiter 1 Spacecraft
  
• Lunar Orbiter to the Moon (1966-1967)
  
• Lunar Orbiter 1 Experiments and Data
  

Life Update

Not much had been going on in my life, but given a few recent posts, I thought I'd update.

* The copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that had the upside-down signature sold to a collector in England, and I'll be mailing it out to him later today.

* lensman and gem225 both offered to lend me their DVDs of Star Trek, so I'm all set with those. When I can post more about why I needed them, I will.

* gem225 (who is new to comics) and I went on a comic book shopping trip last week. She reports on what she's started to buy and read in her post "I discover the joy and lure of comics, part 2". (I suppose this doesn't have much to do with my own life, but it's fun watching her get interested in comics. She's picked a good time to do so as well, what with Infinite Crisis on the horizon.)

* Finally, I've been in the process of revising the novel. I'm almost done with Part One, which required the most extensive rewrite, especially since I jettisoned about two chapters worth of material. If I'm able to keep up the pace, I'll have the second draft done by the end of the month.