Christmas Greeting from the Moon - The Journey Of Apollo 8

Christmas Wishes From The Moon

In December of 1968 3 astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Neil Anders on only the second Apollo mission to reach space, became the first to leave Earth's orbit and travel to the moon.

Moon as Photographed by Apollo 8

This was actually a very bold plan at the time filled with unknowns and risk.  Less than 18 month before there was the fire during the training of the Apollo 1 mission which cost the lives of 3 astronauts and shut down manned spaceflights for a 20 month period.  After a critical review of all hardware and procedures (and enough blame to go around for everyone), a revitalize Apollo program and spacecraft was reborn.

The first manned launch of the new Apollo Spacecraft was October of 1968 in ten day Earth orbital mission.  The mission was a complete success.

There was a space race to the moon going on with the Soviet Union.  There were only 12 and one half month to go before the U.S. self imposed deadline of December 31, 1969 imposed by John Kennedy's famous speech of putting a man on the moon and returning him safely before the end of the decade.

The next piece of hardware that NASA needed to test was the Lunar Module which would actually land on the moon, however that hardware would not be ready until March of 1969.  The Apollo 8 mission was supposed to be another orbital flight around the earth, but some mission specialist had a different idea.

Though they couldn't test the Lunar Module they could test the Command and Service Module (CSM) for a future moon mission.   In this mission, the Apollo spacecraft would be the first manned craft to leave the Earth's orbit to fly around and perhaps orbit another celestial body.

The plan was to send Apollo 8 on what was called a "free-return trajectory".  This meant that the path Apollo 8 would trace, would send it around the moon, and if they did nothing, would return them back to earth for a re-entry into the atmosphere.  No rockets would need to be fired to get back to the earth.  If however, all was well, on the far side of the moon, there would be the option to fire the rocket motor of the command module to place Apollo 8 into lunar orbit.

Flight Path of Apollo 8

 

 

Diagram of Apollo 8 spacecraft

 

It would be a mission of firsts. 

• They would be the first manned mission to use the new Saturn V rocket
• The first to leave Earth's orbit
• The first to travel to the moon, orbit the moon and see the "dark side" of the moon
• The first to do a TV broadcast while in orbit  around the moon
• The first to reenter the earth atmosphere at a speed of 24,600 mph.  Faster than any previous mission.

Far side of the moon as photographed by Apollo 8

Apollo 8 was launched from Cape Kennedy on December 21, 1968 and departed Earth's orbit that same morning.  In the early morning hours of December 24, while on the far side of the moon and with the go-ahead of NASA the command modules engine were re-ignited and performed a "burn" to place the spacecraft in lunar orbit.

While in orbit the crew took this famous "Earthrise" picture showing the blue marble of the earth rising about the lunar surface against the black emptiness of space.  The picture became so famous that it was turned into a postage stamp.



Famous "Earthrise" picture

U.S. Postal Service issued a commerative 6 cent stamp of the famous Earthrise picture.

At 9:30 pm East coast time on Christmas Eve of 1968 the crew of Apollo 8 gave a live TV broadcast where they showed pictures of the surface of the moon, as well as pictures of the earth. 


They ended the broadcast with the crew taking turns reading from the Book of Genesis.

William Anders:

"For all 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.
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. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness."

Jim Lovell:

"And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day."

Frank Borman:

"And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good."
Borman then added, "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."


Here is a clip (from youtube) of the reading and Christmas greeting.

I saw a documentary on the space program a while back and Jim Lovell recounts the mission.    1968 had been a year of turmoil with the Vietnam war, a Presidential election, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. being assassinated, riots at the democratic convention in Chicago.   He mentioned that weeks after getting back to the Earth, he received a post card from a from an ordinary citizen.  The woman simple stated "Thank you, you saved 1968"

To all my family and friends (and anyone else reading this blog) I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Years !