December 21, 1968....The crew of Apollo 8 successfully lift off in the first manned launch of the Saturn V. With the success of Apollo 7 and some procedural & spacecraft changes, NASA feels confident that the second manned flight of the Command Module can venture into unflown territory and go to the Moon. It will also allow NASA to test & refine the tracking and communications network. Frank Borman is Commander, Jim Lovell is Command Module Pilot, & Bill Anders is Lunar Module Pilot. Apollo 8 was originally an Earth orbiting mission to test a Lunar Module. After successfully reaching orbit and spending 2½ hours checking the spacecraft, the S-IVB is re-ignited to put Apollo 8 on a rendezvous course with the Moon and the crew become the first humans to leave Earth orbit. After the burn, the S-IVB is commanded to vent its fuel and is put into solar orbit where it remains today.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 18:38:40 +0000
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