The "earth balloon" as it is called, is a photographic depiction of the earth.
The balloon's material began as white, then pictures of earth,
which were taken from the space shuttle, were printed onto the material in sections.
Each section was three times larger than would be needed to create the balloon.
The reason for that was the sections had to be cut to match each other to create
the earth globe before the final step of stitching all the sections together.
Although three times the material needed was used by the Brazilian balloon maker,
the extra material was recycled in the construction of other balloons.