Curiosity snaps its first photo of Earth from Mars
NASA has released a photo it says is the first photo of Earth the Curiosity rover has taken from Mars since it landed in Aug. 2012.
The photo, tweeted by NASA on Thursday, was taken about 80 minutes after sunset on the rover’s 529th Martian day, NASA said in a blog post.
“Look Back in Wonder… My 1st picture of Earth from the surface of Mars,” the tweet said.
The distance between Earth and Mars at the time the photo was taken was about 99 million miles.
Curiosity isn’t the first rover to photograph Earth from Mars. In 2004, the Spirit rover snapped what came to be known as the “You Are Here” picture, marking the first time Earth had been photographed from the surface of a world other than the moon.
The $2.5 billion Curiosity rover was launched in Jan. 2012, landing eight months later, to help NASA determine Mars’ “habitability.”
Contact Stephanie Grimes at sgrimes@reviewjournal.com. Find her on Twitter: @steph_grimes
