Bay Area Citizen - News
Still unforgettable 40 years later -- the Apollo 8 mission to the moon
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| The crew of Apollo 8 were the first humans to witness the Earth rising over the Moon's horizon, shown here in this photo from the 1968 mission. (All photos credited to NASA). |
By MARY ALYS CHERRY
It was a magical time that Christmas 40 years ago.
The country had been through a lot during 1968.
We wept as both Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King were gunned down years before their time.
Click here for a link to the Apollo 8 crew's famous Christmas Eve broadcast.
We had seen college students riot on campuses across the country with no particular purpose in mind and stage sit-ins. We had seen blacks riot in the streets of our cities over the loss of their spiritual leader.
At times, it had seemed as if the very fabric of our country was unraveling. But all was forgotten that December. We were going to circle the moon!
Apollo 7, the first manned mission to test the Saturn V rocket that would carry us to the moon, returned safely that October from orbiting Earth. Astronauts Wally Schirra, Walt Cunningham and Donn Eisele also checked out the propulsion system that would power the spacecraft into lunar orbit.
Now, Apollo 8 was ready to go.
So were astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders, who flew faster than man had ever flown before — a sizzling 24,226 miles per hour as they raced toward the moon.
They blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center “Moonport” Dec. 21.
Soon, they presenting a television show to the world of what they were seeing.
Some 69 hours later, Apollo 8 slipped into lunar orbit and the trio became the first humans to see the dark side of the moon.
Back on Earth, the world held its collective breath for 20 minutes until controllers at the Johnson Space Center began cheering as they heard Lovell answer their calls with three wonderful words: “Go ahead, Houston.”
Lovell, who was later to command the ill-fated Apollo 13, described what he was seeing on the lunar surface and its many craters:
“The moon is essentially gray, no color. It looks like Plaster of Paris, like dirty beach sand with lots of footprints in it.”
The most memorable part of the mission came on Christmas Eve, as the astronauts took turns reading from the Bible as the world watched live television shots taken from the window of the spacecraft — no doubt with a lump in their throats.
As they circled the moon, Anders began, “For all of the people on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message we would like to send you.
“In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.,” he read from the first chapter of Genesis.
Borman ended the reading by wishing all a “good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas,” adding, “God bless all of you — all of you on the good Earth.”
It was an incredible moment in our history for those who witnessed it — a moment they will not soon forget.
The country had been through a lot during 1968.
We wept as both Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King were gunned down years before their time.
Click here for a link to the Apollo 8 crew's famous Christmas Eve broadcast.
We had seen college students riot on campuses across the country with no particular purpose in mind and stage sit-ins. We had seen blacks riot in the streets of our cities over the loss of their spiritual leader.
At times, it had seemed as if the very fabric of our country was unraveling. But all was forgotten that December. We were going to circle the moon!
Apollo 7, the first manned mission to test the Saturn V rocket that would carry us to the moon, returned safely that October from orbiting Earth. Astronauts Wally Schirra, Walt Cunningham and Donn Eisele also checked out the propulsion system that would power the spacecraft into lunar orbit.
Now, Apollo 8 was ready to go.
So were astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders, who flew faster than man had ever flown before — a sizzling 24,226 miles per hour as they raced toward the moon.
They blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center “Moonport” Dec. 21.
Soon, they presenting a television show to the world of what they were seeing.
Some 69 hours later, Apollo 8 slipped into lunar orbit and the trio became the first humans to see the dark side of the moon.
Back on Earth, the world held its collective breath for 20 minutes until controllers at the Johnson Space Center began cheering as they heard Lovell answer their calls with three wonderful words: “Go ahead, Houston.”
Lovell, who was later to command the ill-fated Apollo 13, described what he was seeing on the lunar surface and its many craters:
“The moon is essentially gray, no color. It looks like Plaster of Paris, like dirty beach sand with lots of footprints in it.”
The most memorable part of the mission came on Christmas Eve, as the astronauts took turns reading from the Bible as the world watched live television shots taken from the window of the spacecraft — no doubt with a lump in their throats.
As they circled the moon, Anders began, “For all of the people on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message we would like to send you.
“In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.,” he read from the first chapter of Genesis.
Borman ended the reading by wishing all a “good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas,” adding, “God bless all of you — all of you on the good Earth.”
It was an incredible moment in our history for those who witnessed it — a moment they will not soon forget.
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