NASA has issued a new visualization of the events leading to one of the iconic photographs of the 20th Century – Earth rising over the moon captured by the crew of the Apollo 8 mission.

The photo known as Earthrise is the first color photograph of Earth taken by a person in lunar orbit. Earthrise is the cover photo of TIME’s Great Images of the 20th Century, and is the central photo on the cover of LIFE’s 100 Photographs That Changed the World.
Earthrise had a profound impact on our attitudes toward our home planet, quickly becoming an icon of the environmental movement,” says Ernie Wright, project lead with the Scientific Visualization Studio at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
The visualization clearly shows how Apollo 8 Commander Frank Borman and crew members William A. Anders and James A. Lovell worked together to photograph the stunning scene as their spacecraft orbited the moon on Dec. 24, 1968. The video allows anyone to virtually ride with the astronauts and experience the awe they felt at the vista in front of them.
via NASA Releases New Earthrise Simulation Video |

A problem with the International Space Station’s cooling system will require a series of spacewalks to fix, pushing the planned Thursday (Dec. 19) launch of a private cargo spacecraft into next month.

NASA has decided that three spacewalks — one each on Dec. 21, Dec. 23 and Dec. 25 — will be necessary to replace a faulty pump module on the orbiting lab. The holiday spacewalks will postpone the first contracted cargo mission of aerospace firm Orbital Sciences’ unmanned Cygnus spacecraft until mid-January at the earliest, NASA officials announced today (Dec. 17).

Each of the three spacewalks is scheduled to begin at 7:10 a.m. EST (1210 GMT) and last 6 1/2 hours. You can watch coverage of the extravehicular activities here on SPACE.com beginning each day at 6:15 a.m. EST, courtesy of NASA TV.

via NASA Plans 3 Spacewalks to Fix Space Station, Delaying Private Cargo Launch | Space.com.