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Apollo 8 Facts

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10 Facts about Apollo 8
1. The Second Human Spaceflight:
Apollo 8 was the second human spaceflight. The first human spaceflight was launched by the Soviet Union on April 12, 1961. Apollo 8 was launched on December 21, 1968. It was the first human mission, in which the spacecraft left the Earth’s orbit. It was the first manned mission to orbit the moon.
2. The Astronauts:
There were three astronauts aboard Apollo 8: Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders. They were the first humans to see Earth as a whole planet, first humans to see Earthrise, and the first to see the far side of the moon. The crew orbited the moon, but did not actually land on the moon.
3. The Good Book:
On Christmas …show more content…

Mission Control waited excitedly to hear from the crew of Apollo 8 that their engine burn had worked and they were returning home. It was confirmed, when Jim Lovell soon communicated the famous words, “Roger, please be informed there is a Santa Claus.” Mission Control lost contact with Apollo 8 for over 89 hours before Jim Lovell would make that transmission.
5. Three Days Travel:
Apollo 8 left Kennedy Space Center, near Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. It took the Apollo 8 crew three days to get to the moon. They circled the moon about ten times in the matter of 20 hours, and then prepared for their return to Earth. The original mission was to take place in early 1969, but was pushed up months sooner, when it was determined that the lunar module would not be ready in time. Instead, the mission was rescheduled to proceed without the lunar module. It was a 590,000-mile voyage and the total trip time was 7 days, or 147 hours, 0 minutes, 42 seconds.
6. The …show more content…

One of the tasks performed by the Apollo 8 crew was to photograph the moon’s surface, make visual observations about the moon. Many photographs were taken during the orbit around the moon. These photographs were used to update existing maps and charts. Many of the photographs are in black and white. The reason for this is that the resolution and clarity of the black and white photos was better than that of color photographs.
7. The Spacecraft:
Apollo 8 was very similar to Apollo 7. The main difference was that the forward pressure and ablative hatches were replaced by a combined forward hatch. Also, there were couches added for the comfort of the crew. There was no lunar module on Apollo 8; however, there was a test module was mounted that was similar in mass to the lunar module. This was done to verify that the lunar module could be stabilized for travel on future explorations.
8. Testing. Testing.

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