The Blue Marble is one of those rare photographs that have been seen by millions, possibly billions of eyes around the globe. Taken by Apollo 17 in 1972, the photograph, in the exact same way in which the moon landing was received, symbolizes so much more than what the American Apollo program was doing up in space, and crosses boundaries of race and ethnicity, gender and nationality. The picture is universal. Advertisements are designed specifically for the consumer and consumerism’s sake. Political or social movement posters target a specific demographic and ask, demand or try to persuade audiences to adopt similar perspectives. Even the world’s great art hold’s a cultural resemblance to the society in which its creator was born. Not so for the Blue Marble. And the image’s universality is represented in its simplicity. We have all seen a globe or an atlas of the world. In that sense, we have all seen an image of the world from a perspective very similar to the one the Blue Marble gives us. But this time something is very, very different. Finally, we see the world how it actually is, rather than a geopolitical chaos of borders and boundaries. And for a moment we understand that it truly is possible, at least in this one context but the hope is in more, to take our political, social and cultural differences and throw them out the window, realizing that we all live on one tiny little marble in space. From this distance we are all equally vulnerable.
I also believe the picture says something very fundamental about the persons behind the camera. By the point in history when this photo would have been circulated, the Apollo 11 mission would have been well known and the somewhat conflicting words and actions of the first men who walked on the moon. “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind” said Armstrong, and there was almost no doubt that he was certainly right, yet they proceeded to steal the spotlight for the United States’ sake by planting one of their own national flag on the lunar surface. Were the Apollo missions going to be primarily a human endeavor, or an American expedition? By the final trip to our moon, Apollo 17, it was becoming more clear that yes, the whole world could and should take pride in the huge stride technology and science had made in the last century and that the oneness of the world and the human race was not contained simply in the fact that national boundaries are imaginary and that we inhabited a single world, but now finally were are given a sense that we have a unity of purpose as well, one toward curiosity and exploration of our universe.