A view of Earth rising above the lunar horizon photographed from the Apollo 10 Lunar Module, looking west in the direction of travel. The Lunar Module at the time the picture was taken was located above the lunar farside highlands at approximately 105 degrees east longitude. Apollo 10 was the fourth manned mission in the United States Apollo space program. Launched on May 18, 1969, it was the F mission: a "dress rehearsal" for the first Moon landing, testing all of the components and procedures, just short of actually landing. The Lunar Module (LM) came to within 8.4 nautical miles of the lunar surface, the point where the powered descent to the lunar surface would begin. Its success enabled the first landing to be attempted on Apollo 11 in July, 1969.