The Dark Side of The Moon Seen for the First Time (1959)

In 1959, the dark far side of the Moon was photographed for the first time (below) and pictures were relayed back to Earth by Russia's Luna 3 spacecraft. After passing the moon, the Luna 3 looked back from a distance of 63,500 km to take 29 photos of the sunlit far side of the moon.

The photos were taken over a period of 40 minutes, developed onboard and then radioed back to earth on Oct 18, 1959. They covered 70% of the far side. Despite the poor quality, they provided the first view ever of this part of the moon.

Nb.: The far side of the moon cannot be viewed from earth because the moon rotates and revolves in such a way that the same part always faces Earth. Taken from Today In Science History

Image and more from Nasa via Wired

Last June NASA released the most complete picture to date of the far side of the moon (above). The picture was made thanks to the data transmitted by the probe Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. link

Nice to see that this anniversary coincides with the latest Pink Floyd catalogue reissues.

Watch the End of the Anthropogene Epoch set to The Great Gig In The Sky by Pink Floyd:

Read the complete Pink Floyd Tour Comic Book here.



A cover photoshop experiment done by the Atomic Surgeons for a PF bootleg.