The famous Blue Marble photo of Earth was taken by the Apollo 17 crew on the way to the Moon, and it was the first Apollo view that could capture the South Pole's ice cap.

The Blue Marble photograph of Earth was taken by the Apollo 17 crew while they traveled toward the Moon.

The crew was commander Eugene A. Cernan, command module pilot Ronald E. Evans and lunar module pilot Harrison H. Schmitt. The translunar-coast photograph extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the Antarctic south polar ice cap.

NASA notes that this was the first time the Apollo trajectory made it possible to photograph the south polar ice cap. Heavy cloud covers the Southern Hemisphere, and almost the entire coastline of Africa is clearly visible.