 The Apollo 8 made a second television broadcast at 55 hours into the flight . This time , the crew rigged up filters meant for the still cameras so they could acquire images of the Earth through the telephoto lens . Although difficult to aim , as they had to maneuver the entire spacecraft , the crew was able to broadcast back to Earth the first television pictures of the Earth . The crew spent the transmission describing the Earth and what was visible and the colors they could see . The transmission lasted 23 minutes . 
