Dec 27 2008
Welcome Home Apollo 8 - Forty Years Ago Today
Forty years ago today, Apollo 8 returned to Earth after a successful seven day mission to travel to the moon, orbit, and return home. Launched on December 21, 1968 at 7:51:00 am from Cape Canaveral, arriving at the moon on Christmas Eve, completing 10 orbits in the twenty hours it circled the moon (and a live Christmas Eve television message), and the return trip to Earth with splashdown on December 27, 1968 at 10:51:42 am for a total mission time of 147 hours, 0 minutes, and 42 seconds.
Frank F. Borman, James A. Lovell Jr., and William A. Anders, the crew of Apollo 8 paved the way for the Apollo 11 mission by being the first to fly the Saturn V rocket, being the first crew to leave Earth orbit and travel to another celestial body, being the first to orbit and leave and another celestial body, and the first to enter into Earth orbit from space, as opposed to entering Earth orbit from the Earth’s atmosphere. A mission of ‘firsts’ was a huge success for the Apollo spaceflight program!
