Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Apollo 8 launched 1968

Earthrise, Christmas Eve 1968

Apollo 8, launched December 21, 1968 with Commander Frank F. Borman II, Command Module Pilot James A. Lovell, Jr. and Lunar Module Pilot William A. Anders, marked the first time man Earth's gravity and orbit the Moon.  They were the first people to see the whole Earth, the far side of the Moon and Earth rise.

It took the crew three days to reach the moon.  They orbited the Moon ten times in the next twenty hours and made a Christmas Eve broadcast, reading from the Book of Genesis, Chapter 1, verses 1-10.

L-R: James Lovell, William Anders, Frank Borman

They returned to Earth December 27 and were named Time magazine's "Men of the Year" for 1968.

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