Counting Down to Apollo

One American's account of watching humanity reach the Moon

Mission Log: Apollo 8

Humanity’s first voyage to the Moon — orbiting at Christmas 1968

Christmas Eve at the Moon
Apollo 8 December 24, 1968

Christmas Eve at the Moon

On Christmas Eve 1968, three American astronauts in orbit around the Moon read from the Book of Genesis. Before they read, Bill Anders took a photograph. He called out: "Oh my God, look at that picture over there!" He had seen the Earth rising above the lunar horizon. Earthrise. The…
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They’re Going to the Moon — Not to Orbit the Earth
Apollo 8 December 21, 1968

They’re Going to the Moon — Not to Orbit the Earth

Apollo 8 launched this morning and they are not going to Earth orbit. They are going to the Moon. Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders are riding the Saturn V to lunar orbit. For the first time in history, human beings are leaving Earth to go to another world.…
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