Gemini Astronaut Photos Inspired Early Earth Observation Program, NASA Recalls the 1966 Gemini XII Mission
NASA's History Office recalled on November 13 that astronauts James A. Lovell Jr. and Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. orbited Earth from November 11 to 15, 1966, on Gemini XII, the final mission of NASA's Gemini program.
In addition to successfully completing rendezvous maneuvers and spacewalks, procedures vital to sending American astronauts to the Moon, the crew was also spurring the development of a different field of exploration: observing Earth from space.
The photos taken by Lovell, Aldrin, and other Gemini astronauts demonstrated the value of orbital imagery for studying Earth's surface, NASA said, and helped scientists make the case for a dedicated Earth observation satellite program. One of the strongest advocates for accelerating the use of Earth-observing satellites was William T. Pecora, director of the U.S. Geological Survey from 1965 to 1971. In a 1969 statement, Pecora noted that the Earth Resources Observation Satellite (EROS) program he championed, which later paved the way for Landsat, was “conceived in 1966 largely as a direct result of the demonstrated utility of Mercury and Gemini orbital photography to Earth resource studies.”
For more than five decades, Landsat and other Earth-observing satellites have provided invaluable data used around the world to monitor crops, wildfires, flooding, vegetation health, land use, and countless other changes to our planet.
Source: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：1966年11月12日，双子座12号飞行员 Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. 在舱外活动期间的自拍照，背景为地球（NASA／Buzz Aldrin 摄，编号 S66-62926，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons；编辑部已预裁为16:9，头盔完整在框）。 / Photo: Astronaut Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. photographed himself during extravehicular activity on Gemini XII on November 12, 1966, with Earth in the background (NASA/Buzz Aldrin, S66-62926, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; pre-cropped to 16:9 by the newsroom).
