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Apollo 8: the space-age Christmas story
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It was the most famous, and most tuned-in, broadcast of its time. The crew of Apollo 8, orbiting the moon, sent home a Christmas message that was hailed as a bright ray of hope during the turbulent year of 1968.
Riding aboard the first manned launch of the massive new Saturn V rocket, Mission Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders rumbled into space on Dec. 21, 1968. Forty years later, their mission remains one of the most successful and iconic missions ever.
Launched from Kennedy Space Center, the crew spent three days getting to the moon. Ironically, the mission, which paved the way for Apollo 11's lunar landing (Neil Armstrong was part of the backup crew for Apollo 8), had been planned as a LEO (low earth orbit) shakedown mission. But late shipments of hardware and a Russian unmanned moon excursion changed the plans.
Suddenly, Apollo 8 was headed for the moon. The mission marked the first time humans had ever seen the whole earth from space at once, the first time space voyagers had toured the far side of the moon, and the first time for seeing Earth while orbiting another celestial body. The mission also was the first time humans had escaped earth's gravitational field, entered another gravitational field, and returned.
It was also the first time for sailing through the Van Allen radiation belts. Because of worries about how much radiation the astronauts would receive, they all wore personal dosimeters, with fresh data sent back to mission controllers at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Their dosage levels were about one-and-a-half times that of an x-ray. (However, long-term space radiation exposure does have health consequences, with cosmonaut Valentin Lebedev now claiming that his 221 days aboard Salyut-7 are causing him to go blind.)
Shown above is the famous "first Earthrise" photo, taken by Anders. The crew took more than 700 photographs during their flight. They later said that they thought their photographic work was one of the most important contributions not only of that mission, but in paving the way for future Apollo missions.
On Dec. 24, 1968, the crew sent home the first live broadcast from the neighborhood of the moon. The Christmas Eve message was a reading from the Book of Genesis, and concluded with Borman's heart-felt words; ""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."
Back on the good Earth, the response to the Christmas Eve transmission was enormous. The broadcast touched hearts around the world.
Borman, Lovell and Anders returned to Earth on Dec. 27 after orbiting the moon ten times. Their capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, where they were picked up by the USS Yorktown.
The Apollo 8 crew has been busy this year sharing recollections and joining in celebrations of the 40th anniversary of that historic flight. And so we say, from those of us on the good Earth who remember and cherish those moments in 1968: thank you, and Merry Christmas. You and your team gave us a present that will live forever.
The Apollo 8 mission is shown in this video presentation from hjsgator.
Image credits: NASA
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