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European Space History

European Space History

On this day: 3 July 2003, ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft sent back a unique picture of our home planet and its natural satellite, the Moon. The views of the Earth/Moon system were taken by Mars Express’s High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC), when the spacecraft was 8 million kilometres from Earth. These photographs and other data, such as those recording the major constituents of Earth as seen from space, proved that the instruments on board Mars Express were working perfectly.