The first view of Earth from space
Hard to believe, but this photo of Earth, captured on October 24, 1946, was taken 11 years before the Soviet Union launched Sputnik to low Earth orbit. Our first view of Earth as seen from space, sadly, came from a camera mounted to a modified V-2 rocket (yes, the same V-2 rocket used by the Nazis to terrorize Britons during the Second World War). Launched from the White Sands Missile Range in White Sands New Mexico, the Project Hermes V-2 No. 13 rocket flew to a maximum height of 65 miles (105 km), from where it took a photo five times higher than the previous record.
