IMAGE OF AFRICA FROM GALILEO

This image was taken by the Galilo spacecraft as it was departing the Earth-Moon system in December 1992 on its Jupiter mission. The distance to Earth is about 2 million miles. Compared with the Apollo image we can imagine the planet receding into the distance as the probe speeds toward its destination three years travel away. What we see from these images is that space exploration gives us a profoundly moving perspective not attainable any other way.