What made Apollo 8 distinct from the previous spaceflight missions?
December, 27: 1968, Apollo 8 returns to Earth
Apollo 8, the second human spaceflight mission in the United States Apollo space program, was launched on December 21, 1968, and became the first manned spacecraft to leave Earth orbit, reach the Earth's Moon, orbit it and return safely to Earth. The three-astronaut crew — Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders — became the first humans to travel beyond low Earth orbit, the first to see Earth as a whole planet, the first to directly see the far side of the Moon, and then the first to witness Earthrise.
What are your thoughts on this subject?
18 Comments
Bill Coe
Don Berry, I was hoping he was just being sarcastic. Do you think he really believes that? If so, he's also probably a member of the flat earth society.
lmjmom
Got it right!
George Oliver Prince
Remember it well, saw it on AFRTS while stationed in Japan
George Edwards
Uniformed comment. Like we should have stayed in our caves. Like Columbus should have stayed home. Actually it was military: Russia's Sputnik was terrorising the consciousness of America, we were afraid of Nuclear Bombs raining down on us from future Sputniks. If the Russians got a moon base it would be even worse. It was a National Security issue, like the trillions wasted to today after 9/11, And what's more, the moon is only 250,000 miles away, not millions. It was the greatest thing mankind has ever or will ever do. We will never get to try to go to Mars, Global Warming will have us totally at its mercy soon.
George H McCollum III
What a freakin' WAST of Time! All the LIVES and MONEY we spend researching for whatever MILLLIONS miles away,! When we haven't even figured out what our own planet is all about!
Don Berry
Herb, really? You are an embarrassment to the US, indeed the human race. I hope you never bred.
Syed K. Raziuddin
The earth,the space,the sun ,the moon and the stars all in and around The Universe are the creations of one "Allah" Subhana wa tala,and has to vanish one day 'THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT' in Arabic and Urdu language called 'Youm-e-Qiyamah' and have be accountable in front of Allah (swt) of their deeds,Good Deeds will be rewarded and Bad DeeFS will be Punished severely. By Al Qura'n.
Sofia Roque
Good to know
Herb Turner
IT WAS ALL A BUNCH OF CRAP! PRODUCED IN A MOVIE PRODUCTION BACK LOT. AND MOON ROCKS? WHAT A JOKE. I BELIEVE THE BUCK ROGERS SERIES WAS MORE BELIEVABLE.
Dennis Meyer
Hey, way to go Quizz Club. You got one right! Thanks so much! See, that's not so difficult now is it?
Aaron Mickey Ojeda
I'm sure that they were thinking of the fact of how small our planet is in the scope of things
Ivy France
Awesome
Larry Phillips
How was the picture taken?
MaryAnn Jensen
I can imagine the awesome sight that the 3 astronauts saw when viewing the Earth as they went around the moon !!!! This was accomplished in 1968 & year later a man landed on the moon ( July 20, 1969 ) !!! I remember the great feat like it happened yesterday !!!
Joe Conway
Look at that incredible resolution from 1968. Today we get it on a smartphone; and the same level cameras can count the hairs on the face of a target through the windshield from a drone over Waziristan.