(December 7, 1972) - The Apollo 17 crew saw this view of the Earth as it headed for the moon as part of NASA's lunar landing mission. This exceptional photograph of the trans-lunar coast stretches from the Mediterranean Sea region to the southern polar cap of Antarctica. This is the first time that the Apollo trajectory allowed to photograph the polar ice cap south. Note the heavy cloud cover in the southern hemisphere. Almost the entire coastline of Africa is clearly visible. The Arabian Peninsula is visible in northeastern Africa. The big island off the African coast is the Malagasy Republic. The crew of Apollo 17 was made up of astronauts Eugene A. Cernan, mission commander, Ronald E. Evans, pilot of the command module, and Harrison H. Schmitt, pilot of the lunar module.
