What was apollo 8

Apollo 8 was launched from Cape Kennedy, Fla. Two hours 50 minutes later, translunar injection was performed; and astronauts Col. Frank Borman, the commander; Capt. James A. The mission demonstrated astronauts could ride the Saturn V rocket to space, enter and depart from lunar orbit, and return safely to Earth, all crucial milestones toward the Moon landing. Despite the noise, the crew reported a smooth flight, and just twelve minutes later, Apollo 8 was safely orbiting the Earth.

On 24 December, the crew passed behind the Moon and fired the service module's engines for four minutes, injecting them into lunar orbit. The crew began training for a possible lunar mission in August , but the final decision to fly to the Moon was not made until November 12, less than six weeks before launch. The goals of the mission included developing operational experience with deep space navigation, communication, and tracking.

After a detailed checkout of the spacecraft in Earth orbit, the third stage of the booster was re-ignited, sending the spacecraft on a trajectory to the Moon. After a flight of slightly under 3 days, the crew entered orbit around the Moon at AM on December Instead, they worried about three men far from home—and whether their engine would work correctly and send them back or whether they would die in unending lunar orbits.

More than 1 billion people were said to be following the flight. The Soviet Union even lifted its Iron Curtain enough to allow its citizens to follow this historic moment in human history. Day in and day out, people around the world listened to communications between the Johnson Space Center and the distant Apollo 8.

A complete record of communications is available online today. Much of the back-and-forth sounded like business as usual, three men at work, but there were rare moments.

Until that moment, no one on Earth knew that the planet emitted a noticeable glare. Paine challenging the reading of the Bible by government employees. The home team never cheered the small victories along the way to successful flights.