This Day In Space - December 21By KD MartinIn 1969, a group of astronauts change the world. They ride the biggest rocket ever built to the Moon. It's the culmination of 10 years of space pioneering, and the foundation of four decades of exploring worlds beyond our own. Join us for the ongoing story of our greatest adventure.
The most famous photo ever taken, Earthrise, by Bill Anders ↔December 21, 1968 Some say this was NASA's finest hour - a bold mission to replace a test flight. The Lunar Module from Grumman wasn't ready, and CIA spy photos showed the Russians have a large rocket on a launch pad. This mission will guarantee the USA will be the first to the Moon, and the Apollo 8 astronauts jump at the chance. This will be the first manned flight aboard the Saturn V rocket, the largest machine ever made by man. This will be the first time men will leave Earth orbit and travel to an unexplored planet. This will be the most bold venture ever attempted. And it is a very dangerous and daring mission.
Apollo 8 (AS-503) is launched from KSC Launch Complex 39, Pad A, at 7:51 a.m. EST Dec. 21 on a Saturn V booster. The spacecraft crew is made up of Frank Borman, James A. Lovell, Jr., and William A. Anders. Apollo 8 is the first spacecraft to be launched by a Saturn V with a crew on board, and that crew became the first men to fly around the moon.
All launch and boost phases were normal and the spacecraft with the S-IVB stage is inserted into an earth-parking orbit of 190.6 by 183.2 kilometers above the earth. After post-insertion checkout of spacecraft systems, the S-IVB stage is reignited and burns 5 minutes 9 seconds to place the spacecraft and stage in a trajectory toward the moon - and the Apollo 8 crew becomes the first men to leave the earth's gravitational field.
Apollo 8 launch ↔On the fourth day, Christmas Eve, communications are interrupted as Apollo 8 passes behind the moon, and the astronauts become the first men to see the moon's far side. Later that day, during the evening hours in the United States, the crew reads the first 10 verses of Genesis on television to earth and wishes viewers "goodnight, good luck, a Merry Christmas and God bless all of you - all of you on the good earth."
The Apollo 8 Astronauts , L-R are Lovell, Anders and Borman ↔Subsequently, TV Guide for May 10-16, 1969, claims that one out of every four persons on earth - nearly 1 billion people in 64 countries - heard the astronauts' reading and greeting, either on radio or on TV; and delayed broadcasts that same day reached 30 additional countries.
This launch will be remembered as one of the finest achievements of NASA and the American spirit of space exploration.
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