Topic: Apollo 8 50th anniversary (Dec. 21-27, 2018)
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 43576 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 12-21-2018 07:26 AM
From NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine on Twitter:
50 years ago today, Apollo 8 launched on a mission to orbit the moon for the first time. The story of this mission is one of American courage and dedication at Christmas.
Space Cadet Carl Member
Posts: 225 From: Lake Orion, Michigan Registered: Feb 2006
posted 12-21-2018 08:03 AM
One of my best childhood memories is of lying underneath our Christmas tree on the night of December 24, 1968 and seeing those ghostly black and white television images from lunar orbit, while the crew took turns reading from the Book of Genesis. After the broadcast was over, everybody in our living room just looked at each other in silence. Wow, what a moment!
Glint Member
Posts: 1044 From: New Windsor, Maryland USA Registered: Jan 2004
posted 12-21-2018 08:33 AM
The great thing about launch day in 1968 was, not only was it the day before Christmas week, but it was Saturday, meaning no school. It was up bright and before the rest of the family for launch coverage on CBS.
Rick Mulheirn Member
Posts: 4208 From: England Registered: Feb 2001
posted 12-21-2018 10:04 AM
As a child I was interested in all media coverage of the space program to date, but Apollo 8 really fired up my imagination and the compulsion to collect.
BNorton Member
Posts: 150 From: Registered: Oct 2005
posted 12-21-2018 10:27 AM
In the NASA video, the NASA Administrator does not appear to know the history of his agency. While Apollo 6 had multiple problems and did not meet specific mission objectives due to the problems, I have never heard or read where anyone referred to it as a failure, nor do I recall (nor can I find in a quick scan of Apollo 6 flight history) that the service module engine failed to restart. It did not burn near mission end due to a lack of fuel because of an extra long prior burn.
I am sure someone in this forum will correct me if I am wrong.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 43576 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 12-21-2018 10:59 AM
I think when Bridenstine said, "In the previous mission, that single mission failed to reignite even once," he is using "failed" to describe the original Apollo 6 mission plan rather than a technical failure of the SPS engine. That said, I agree that could have been worded more precisely.
BNorton Member
Posts: 150 From: Registered: Oct 2005
posted 12-21-2018 11:19 AM
I listened to the video a couple more times, and found it to have several more errors. He, the Administrator, does explicitly refer to the service module engine as failing to restart after talking about the multiple times it would be fired throughout the mission.
I think you are being too kind. The Administrator (or whomever wrote his script) needed to do a much better job.
Apollo 8 was a great U.S. accomplishment. Having missed watching the previous two, it was the first Saturn V launch we watched from our backyard.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 43576 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 12-21-2018 11:20 AM
NASA Johnson Space Center video
The historic year 1968 was closed out by NASA with a first-of-its-kind accomplishment: putting human beings in orbit around Earth’s Moon, a feat that also provided the people of Earth with their first-ever view of their planet from afar. So cozy up around the fire and join us to recall the events of fifty years ago which forged the path to those first footprints on the Moon.
perineau Member
Posts: 244 From: FRANCE Registered: Jul 2007
posted 12-21-2018 11:43 AM
Not to be too picky, but the "walkout" footage of the Apollo 8 crew was from a practice run and not the real thing!
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 43576 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 12-21-2018 03:52 PM
This is a new, ultra-high definition (UHD, or 4K) version of the Earthrise visualization first published in 2013. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center video:
In December of 1968, the crew of Apollo 8 became the first people to leave our home planet and travel to another body in space. But as crew members Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders all later recalled, the most important thing they discovered was Earth. Using photo mosaics and elevation data from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), this video commemorates Apollo 8's historic flight by recreating the moment when the crew first saw and photographed the Earth rising from behind the Moon. Narrator Andrew Chaikin, author of "A Man on the Moon," sets the scene for a three-minute visualization of the view from both inside and outside the spacecraft accompanied by the onboard audio of the astronauts.
perineau Member
Posts: 244 From: FRANCE Registered: Jul 2007
posted 12-24-2018 08:30 AM
Half a century ago tonight... God Bless the crew of Apollo 8!
For many, Christmas is for spending time close to loved ones. But in 1968, astronauts Frank Borman, Bill Anders and Jim Lovell would spend their Christmas Day further away from home than any human had ever done before.
With the help of archive material, former NASA employees, author Robert Kurson and the astronauts themselves, Anna Foster remembers the Apollo 8 mission on its 50th anniversary.
NavyPilot Member
Posts: 36 From: Registered: Nov 2015
posted 12-25-2018 07:35 AM
I enjoy pointing out to people that the crew of Apollo 8 also were the first humans on terrestrial record ever to fly TO EARTH (having to maneuver actively to enter its gravitational field), just as any other visitor might.
Take that, aliens! You must document any claims in the future...
Buel Member
Posts: 653 From: UK Registered: Mar 2012
posted 12-25-2018 02:37 PM
quote:Originally posted by NavyPilot: ...first humans on terrestrial record ever to fly TO EARTH
This was brilliant!!
Blackarrow Member
Posts: 3160 From: Belfast, United Kingdom Registered: Feb 2002
posted 12-25-2018 05:23 PM
I'm still trying to work out which is more surprising: that Apollo 8 succeeded; that no-one has been back to the Moon since Apollo ended; or that the three Apollo 8 astronauts are still with us 50 years later.
holcombeyates Member
Posts: 253 From: UK Registered: Dec 2010
posted 12-25-2018 06:04 PM
Thought it might be of interest to post the UK television listings for Christmas Day 1968. There are no hard scheduled times for transmissions from the moon, so I guess that it would have just interrupted scheduled programmes as and when. Also an interesting article on the technical risks that were inherent in the mission.
posted 12-26-2018 09:55 AM
From KRTV, CBS television affiliate in Great Falls, Montana, this short segment with Frank Borman regarding the 50th anniversary of Apollo 8.
Buel Member
Posts: 653 From: UK Registered: Mar 2012
posted 12-26-2018 01:23 PM
quote:Originally posted by Blackarrow: I'm still trying to work out which is more surprising...
This was excellent!!
denali414 Member
Posts: 642 From: Raleigh, NC Registered: Aug 2017
posted 12-27-2018 05:34 PM
A good show about Apollo 8 on Nova last night: Apollo's Daring Mission (Season 45, Episode 18).
Apollo astronauts and engineers tell the inside story of how the first mission to the moon, Apollo 8, pioneered groundbreaking technologies that would pave the way to land a man on the moon and win the space race.
star51L Member
Posts: 354 From: Vilano Beach, FL, USA Registered: Aug 2002
posted 12-27-2018 06:42 PM
quote:Originally posted by Blackarrow: ...or that the three Apollo 8 astronauts are still with us 50 years later.
...and all three are still married to their first wife!
onesmallstep Member
Posts: 1313 From: Staten Island, New York USA Registered: Nov 2007
posted 12-28-2018 09:48 AM
Next up: Apollo 9, and all three astronauts are still with us as well. Looking forward to their appearances and memories
David Carey Member
Posts: 802 From: Registered: Mar 2009
posted 01-26-2019 01:24 PM
An article from the Bartlett (Texas) Tribune details an award ceremony 50 years ago on Jan. 25, 1969, where the Apollo 8 crew were honored in-absentia by the Texas Press Association. Paul Haney represented NASA for the event and presumably brought back three sizable high-relief plaques for the astronauts. Here is Jim Lovell's copy.
kosmo Member
Posts: 394 From: Registered: Sep 2001
posted 01-27-2019 07:37 AM
Beautiful plaque. Apollo 8 was an incredible mission. Its 50th seems to have come and gone without much notice.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 43576 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 01-27-2019 08:09 AM
While not as hyped as the upcoming Apollo 11 anniversary, there were at least five galas or special events to mark Apollo 8's 50th; two books released (three, if you count a new audiobook version of an earlier title); two television specials; numerous print, TV and radio news reports about the 50th anniversary of Earthrise; and the official naming of two craters on the moon.
posted 12-21-2018 07:26 AM
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