Article by Michael Burton, Director of Armagh Observatory and Planetarium.

Rollout to the launch pad of the Apollo 8 Saturn V on October 9, 1968.  Credit NASA.

Christmas Eve of 1968 saw the arrival of the first humans at the Moon – the crew of Apollo 8.  A truly momentous event in history, the arrival of humans to another world for the very first time.  However the event has been largely overshadowed in our minds by Apollo 11, which, seven months later brought the first humans to the very surface of another world.  In this astronotes article we look back to the epic journey of Apollo 8, 50 years ago.  It was a journey that is inscribed into the history books as much as those of Marco Polo, of Captain Cook, of Roald Amundsen in earlier eras, one that transfixed humanity at the time.

A picture of the crew while in orbit around the Moon; Frank Borman is in the centre.  Credit NASA.

Apollo 8 was one of the essential space missions that made possible the six successful Moon landings of  Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17, trailing key stages in the technology that enables the journey from Earth to Moon.  The three astronauts on board, Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders, became the first humans to leave Earth orbit, to see the Earth as a whole planet as they journeyed to the Moon, and the first to enter the gravitational well of another body as they entered lunar orbit.

They were also the first humans to see the far side of the Moon directly, forever hidden from view for those left on Earth due to the Moon’s tidally-locked synchronous rotation as is orbits our planet.  And they were first ever to see Earth rise as their lunar orbit returned from the far side.  The images they took of the Earth and Earthrise have engrained themselves on human consciousness, enabling our species to visualise our world as a single entity, and enshrining in us the concept of our fragility set against the vastness of space, of a tiny vista of sublime beauty set against the deep blackness of space.

The first image ever taken by humans of the whole Earth, probably photographed by William Anders.  South is up with South America in the middle.  Credit NASA.

Apollo 8 spent nearly three Earth days travelling to the Moon, then 20 hours orbiting it ten times, before another three days for the return journey home.  The TV broadcast from the crew that Christmas Eve, while orbiting the Moon was, at that time, the most watched TV programme ever.  It included the crew reading out the first ten lines from the Book of Genesis, with gave a special poignancy to phrases such as “And the Earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.  And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters“.

A portion of the lunar far side as seen from Apollo 8, forever invisible from the Earth.

All these epochal achievements, yet  originally NASA had planned Apollo 8 as a test flight for the lunar and command modules that was not to leave Earth orbit.  However delays in the design and building of the lunar module led NASA to re-schedule their overall mission schedule in order to achieve President Kennedy’s bold vision of bringing a man to the surface of the Moon before the end of the decade.  This first lunar flight, proving technically easier to accomplish than the completion of the lunar module (the space ship to be used for the descent and return to the Moon’s surface), thus came first.   Apollo 9 and 10 subsequently completed the commissioning of all necessary pre-cursor stages to Apollo 11, but from Earth orbit.


The Apollo 8 astronauts become the first people to see the Earth rise.  A view that would would not be seen from the surface of the Moon itself, as the Earth remains virtually fixed in position in the lunar sky. Credit NASA.

Apollo 8 came at the end of a year of great upheaval on planet Earth – the Prague Spring and the Soviet Union’s invasion of Czechoslovakia, the assassinations of civil rights campaigner Martin Luther King and Senator Robert Kennedy, of anti-Vietnam war protests.  Despite this global unrest, Time Magazine chose the three crew members of Apollo 8 to be its “Men of the Year“, recognising them as the people who had most influenced events of the year.  Let us not forget their achievement as the even greater one of Apollo 11 approaches!

Apollo 8’s journey from Earth to Moon and back again. Credit NASA.


5 Comments

Art Parker · February 16, 2021 at 00:28

I worked for Kaydon Engineering as a mfg process engineer, Muskegon,Michigan
We made the bearings for 4 moon buggys
They were 20 inch diameter an used beyilium copper.

I also made the drawings for the 178 inch diameter bearing for the 5 axis simulator used to train astronauts

Top secret information at the time

Derek Heatly · January 19, 2019 at 13:00

Watching Apollo 8,2001,and the Bovedy meteorite pass overhead all in 4 months-I was 13-inspired my dedication to space.Virgin Galactic reached space day after our IAA Apollo 8 talk,so this time next year I may be preparing to break my 2003 record of reaching 80,000ft.@Mach 2.4!!!

Paul Evans · December 14, 2018 at 21:00

Lovely to read this article. I too share a love of Apollo 8 and I do think that when the history books are finally written, CapCom Michael Collins’ words “Apollo 8, you are go for TLI” will be right up there with “One small step….” This was the authorisation to fire the Saturn V’s third stage a second time so that the three astronauts became the first me to leave Earth’s gravity well.

I spoke to the Irish Astronomical Association on Apollo 8 last Wednesday (12th Dec). The talk is available on YouTube here……

https://youtu.be/3-9QbOstHRo

On a personal note, it was Apollo 8 that first got me, as a 7 year old, interested in Space and Astronomy!

Thanks again,

Paul.

    admin · December 17, 2018 at 10:24

    Hi Paul, Thanks for the comment! We’re so pleased you liked this article, and it is brilliant to hear that it was indeed Apollo 8 that first inspired you. I will pass on your brilliant comment to Michael. Also many thanks for the link to the talk, we will get watching asap 😉

Apollo 8 and the First Humans to the Moon – 50 Years On – Dinezh.com · February 11, 2019 at 17:46

[…] Source link […]

Leave a Reply to Paul Evans Cancel reply

Avatar placeholder

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.