Apollo 8
Apollo 8 was the first crewed mission to leave Earth orbit and circle the Moon, in December 1968. The crew — Borman, Lovell and Anders — read from Genesis on Christmas Eve and took the famous Earthrise photograph.
◉ REÁLNÉ FOTO · NASA / images.nasa.govContents
living encyclopedia entrypollo 8 was the first time humans left Earth’s gravitational grip. On 21 December 1968 a Saturn V sent three astronauts toward the Moon, which they orbited ten times just 110 km above the surface.
A veteran of Gemini 7 (1965, a two-week endurance flight and the first rendezvous in space). On Apollo 8 he was, somewhat unusually, not the most experienced crew member — that was Lovell. He fell briefly ill during the flight (likely a reaction to weightlessness) but still brought the mission home flawlessly.
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He joined the crew in July 1968, replacing Michael Collins, who needed neck surgery. As navigator he used a sextant to verify the trajectory to the Moon in case contact with Earth was lost. He had already flown Gemini 7 and commanded Gemini 12 — making him the most experienced crew member on Apollo 8, despite not being in command.
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He carried the title “lunar module pilot” only by the standard crew-position naming — Apollo 8 flew no lunar module. It was his first spaceflight. He took the Earthrise photograph, which became one of the most famous images of the 20th century.
open person →The mission was boldly re-planned: a delay in the lunar module turned a low-orbit test into a leap straight to the Moon. A quarter of humanity watched the Christmas Eve broadcast, and Anders’ “Earthrise” became one of the most influential photographs of the 20th century.
Apollo 8 was originally planned to test the lunar module in low Earth orbit — in August 1968, less than four months before…
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The SPS engine ignited 69 hours, 8 minutes and 16 seconds after launch — on the far side of the Moon, out of contact with Earth —…
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The most critical maneuver of the entire flight — the trans-Earth injection (TEI) burn — again took place on the far side of the…
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MISSION IN NUMBERS
- The mission was re-planned as a lunar flight less than four months before launch — because of the delayed lunar module.
- It was the first crewed flight of the Saturn V rocket — which had failed twice in earlier uncrewed tests.
- The crew were the first in history to leave Earth’s gravitational sphere of influence and see the far side of the Moon with their own eyes.
- The Earthrise photograph taken by Anders is among the most influential images of the 20th century and helped inspire the first Earth Day in 1970.
- On Christmas Eve the crew broadcast a reading from the Book of Genesis to what was then the largest television audience in history.
- Time magazine named the crew its “Men of the Year” for 1968 — a turbulent year scarred by assassinations, which, according to one telegram, they “saved.”
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OČITÉ SVĚDECTVÍ„And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you — all of you on the good Earth.