The Earth

About 80 years ago it was, for the first time, possible what modern science has told us throughout centuries - earth shows its sphericity on the basis of a curved earth horizon. The following age of space flights opened other opportunities. First, our home planet could be observed from low earth orbits, then, a while later even from moon distance. Interplanetary space flights even shifted our position out into the universe. Images sent back from many spacecraft showed, how earth and its moon is part of the solar system.

This book is a journey away from earth, but always looking back to it. The journey starts with balloon flights reaching the stratosphere, followed by the tedious attempts to reach space. When spaceflight in low earth orbits had been achieved, frequent unmanned and manned missions covered that region. Further milestones reached geostationary orbit and the moon. Interplanetary missions allowed to become acquainted with large parts of the solar system. They showed us, how unique our home planet earth is. A photo from a distance of 6 billion kilometers, the famous "pale blue dot", always reminds us of this fact.