Apologies John, did not mean to offend. But you did leave out the part where the guys says he stitched only one globe together from data from a EOS satellite, and not the first image. There is zero hint that others where stitched.
And, we know google earth and many others are stitched, that is because it is openly informed information of what is stitched and what is not. Just like the guy tells you in the article.
The fact that this guy openly tells us that he did this thing on this specific image on the globe, and has not gone all Edward Snowden from NASA means it is no secret that some images are stitched, and others, like the 1972, are not. This does not align with a conspiracy secret revealed.