Apollo 8 (1968): First Crewed Orbit of the Moon and Earthrise

Apollo 8 was the first crewed spacecraft to leave Earth orbit and travel to the Moon. Between 21 and 27 December 1968, American astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders orbited the Moon ten times, broadcast a Christmas Eve reading watched around the world and took the celebrated Earthrise photograph. The mission proved the hardware for a Moon landing and became a defining moment of a troubled year.

Background

The Apollo programme had been badly shaken by the Apollo 1 fire in January 1967, which killed three astronauts. After a long redesign, crewed flights resumed with Apollo 7, an Earth-orbit test in October 1968. The original plan was for Apollo 8 to test the lunar module in Earth orbit.

By the summer of 1968, however, the lunar module was badly behind schedule. In August, George Low, manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office, proposed a daring alternative: send the next command module, without a lunar module, all the way to the Moon and into lunar orbit. NASA leaders were also aware of Soviet progress. In September 1968 the uncrewed Soviet spacecraft Zond 5 flew around the Moon and returned to Earth carrying living creatures, including tortoises.

The decision

The plan carried serious risks. The Saturn V rocket had flown only twice, both times without a crew, and the second flight in April 1968 had suffered severe vibration and engine problems. The crew would rely on a single main engine to enter and leave lunar orbit, with no lunar module to serve as a backup.

After intensive reviews, NASA approved the mission and announced it publicly on 12 November 1968. Frank Borman’s crew, originally assigned to a later Earth-orbit flight, was moved to Apollo 8. Lovell had joined the crew earlier in 1968, replacing Michael Collins, who needed surgery.

The crew

Frank Borman, the commander, was a US Air Force officer and former test pilot who had flown the two-week Gemini 7 mission in 1965. He had also served on the review board that investigated the Apollo 1 fire, and was known as a disciplined, safety-minded leader.

James Lovell, a US Navy pilot, had flown with Borman on Gemini 7 and commanded Gemini 12 in 1966. As command module pilot on Apollo 8 he was responsible for navigation, sighting on stars with a sextant to check the spacecraft’s position. William Anders, an Air Force officer and nuclear engineer, was making his first spaceflight. Although Apollo 8 carried no lunar module, he kept the title of lunar module pilot and handled many of the spacecraft systems and the photography.

Turning an Earth-orbit test into a lunar mission normally planned months ahead left the crew and flight controllers only about four months to prepare. Engineers had to write new flight plans and computer programs, train for navigation in deep space and plan how to find the spacecraft if anything went wrong far from Earth.

Mission planners chose a free-return path for the journey out, a technique that would later save the crew of Apollo 13. If the main engine failed to fire for lunar orbit, the Moon’s gravity would swing the spacecraft around and send it back towards Earth without any further engine burn. Once in lunar orbit, however, the crew depended completely on the service module engine to come home. The crew’s families were well aware of the danger, and NASA prepared contingency plans and statements in case the astronauts were stranded.

The mission

Apollo 8 lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center at 7:51 a.m. Eastern time on 21 December 1968. It was the first crewed launch of the Saturn V. Less than three hours later the third stage fired again to send the spacecraft towards the Moon, and the astronauts became the first people to leave Earth orbit and see the whole planet as a sphere.

The outbound journey took about three days. Early in the flight Borman became ill with nausea and vomiting, probably space sickness, which caused some concern in Mission Control but passed. The crew made television broadcasts showing views of Earth from tens of thousands of kilometres away, although the camera struggled to capture what the astronauts could see with their eyes.

On 24 December, behind the Moon and out of radio contact, the crew fired the service module engine to enter lunar orbit. Mission Control waited anxiously until the spacecraft reappeared on schedule. Over the next 20 hours the crew made ten orbits at an altitude of about 110 kilometres, photographing possible landing sites and describing the grey, cratered surface.

Earthrise and the Christmas Eve broadcast

During one of their orbits on 24 December, the crew saw the Earth rising above the lunar horizon. Anders quickly loaded colour film and photographed it. His picture, later known as Earthrise, showed the blue and white planet hanging over a barren lunar landscape.

That evening, in a television broadcast from lunar orbit, the astronauts described the Moon and then took turns reading the opening verses of the Book of Genesis. Borman ended by wishing a Merry Christmas to “all of you on the good Earth”. The broadcast is often described as the most widely watched television programme up to that time, with audience estimates running to hundreds of millions of people.

The return

Early on 25 December, again behind the Moon, the crew fired the engine to leave lunar orbit and head for home. When contact resumed, Lovell announced that there was a Santa Claus, a light-hearted signal that the critical burn had worked. The command module splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on 27 December 1968, before dawn local time, and the crew were recovered by the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown.

By the numbers

Timeline

• 1968, August: George Low proposes sending Apollo 8 into lunar orbit.
• 1968, September: The Soviet Zond 5 probe flies around the Moon and returns to Earth.
• 1968, 12 November: NASA publicly announces the lunar orbit mission.
• 1968, 21 December: Apollo 8 launches on the first crewed Saturn V.
• 1968, 24 December: The crew enter lunar orbit, photograph Earthrise and make their Christmas Eve broadcast.
• 1968, 25 December: The engine burn behind the Moon sends Apollo 8 back towards Earth.
• 1968, 27 December: Splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

Legacy

Apollo 8 transformed the Space Race. It showed that the United States could reach the Moon and cleared the way for Apollo 9 and 10 to test the lunar module, and for the Apollo 11 Moon landing in July 1969. Time magazine named the three astronauts its Men of the Year for 1968.

Earthrise became one of the most influential photographs ever taken. It showed Earth as small, fragile and alone, and it is often credited with inspiring the environmental movement, including the first Earth Day in 1970. Lovell later commanded the dramatic Apollo 13 mission.

Why it matters

Apollo 8 was the first time human beings travelled to another world and looked back at their own. It turned a risky gamble into a decisive step towards the Moon landing, and its images and words gave people a new sense of Earth as a shared home.