30 a
Taken by a 70mm Maurer Earth Sky automatic camera mounted on the unmanned Mercury spacecraft

First photograph of Earth from space from a spacecraft in orbit

Mercury Atlas 4, September 13, 1961

Unreleased photograph, vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based Kodak paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with NASA HQ credit stamp and “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the verso, numbered “NASA S-62-1282” (NASA MSC) in black in top margin (the print was made in 1962-1963)

30 b
NASA / Unidentified Photographer

Launch of the first successful American unmanned orbital flight

Mercury Atlas 4, September 13, 1961

Large-format presentation vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based Kodak paper, 28.3 x 35.2cm (11 x 14in), with “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the verso
28.3 x 35.2cm (11 x 14in)

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30 a
An extremely rare photograph taken from the spacecraft during the 1-orbit flight (apogee of 248 km; perigee of 156 km).

The Earth sky Maurer 220G camera was equipped with a 75mm lens and GAF Super Anscochrome T-100 Superior ASA 64 color reversal film.

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“This flight was an orbital test of the Mercury Tracking Network and the first successful orbital flight test of the Mercury program. (All previous successful launches were suborbital.) The payload consisted of a pilot simulator (to test the environmental controls), two voice tapes (to check the tracking network), a life support system, three cameras, and instrumentation to monitor levels of noise, vibration and radiation. It demonstrated the ability of the Atlas rocket to lift the Mercury capsule into orbit, of the capsule and its systems to operate completely autonomously, and succeeded in obtaining pictures of the Earth. It completed one orbit prior to returning to Earth. The capsule was recovered 161 miles east of Bermuda 82 minutes after splash-down by the destroyer U.S.S. Decatur” (https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1961-025A).