The Blue Marble photograph is used in John McConnell’s current Earth Flag design associated with Earth Day.
The Blue Marble is the famous full-Earth photograph taken by the Apollo 17 crew on December 7, 1972, during the astronauts’ journey to the Moon. In the current Earth Flag design, the detailed image of Earth appears against a dark blue background.
John McConnell proposed the Earth Flag in 1969, and an early version debuted at a Moon Watch event in New York’s Central Park on July 20, 1969. That first design could not use The Blue Marble, because the Apollo 17 photograph had not yet been taken. Earlier versions used an Apollo 10 image from May 18, 1969, or simpler cloud outlines.
The names are easy to confuse. “Pale Blue Dot” is a distant Voyager 1 image, while “Earthrise” shows Earth appearing above the lunar horizon. “Blue Planet” is a general nickname, not the specific photograph used in the flag.