Maybe apart from the very first photo ever captured, which I think no longer exists ..

.. people count the earliest known photo as the first photo .. which is probably close enough, but not it!
That still has to be one of the greatest ever too, but it's not the first.

In my view, 'Earthrise' IS the greatest photo ever.
And it's not so much for it's technical excellence or 'golden rule' or 'rule of thirds' composition .. nor artistic prowess .. (to me) it's just powerful symbol of how far humans have come .. and how much further we have to go.

So there you have it, the #1 and #2 greatest photo(s) of all time, which could easily be transposed in an opposite rating depending on mood at the time of said rating.
(BTW! .. I'm pretty much a bit of a sciencey geek, so space travel clouds my judgement.
OTOH, I'm also a photography geek ... and therefore 'the first', or 'one of the first photo(s)' .. and definitely the oldest surviving photo makes for a very compelling argument, as well.

Which one to vote for

Anyhow ... some new info as to who took Earthrise has come to light:



To be honest, doesn't matter who actually took the shot, could easily have been any of them operating the camera at the time .. just nice to have a bit more precision of data on the facts surrounding the image.