Apollo 8

"In the beginning, God created the Heaven and the Earth...."

 

Prime Crew: Frank Borman (Commander)

James A. Lovell (Command Module Pilot)

William "Bill" Anders (Lunar Module Pilot)

Backup Crew: Neil A. Armstrong (Commander)

Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin (Command Module Pilot)

Fred W. Haise, Jr. (Lunar Module Pilot)

December 21, 1968

10 Lunar Orbits

Apollo 8 NASA Mission Transcripts (pdf files):

Onboard voice

Air-to-Ground voice

 

 

 

The Prime Crew of Apollo 8 at the Kennedy Space Center Apollo Command Module Simulator. L-R: Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell, Lunar Module Pilot Bill Anders, and Commander Frank Borman. Frank and Jim flew together on the historic Gemini 7 mission, in which they accomplished the first rendezvous between two manned spacecraft in Earth orbit, and set a record for long-duration space flight. Jim went on to command the final Gemini mission, the spectacular Gemini 12, with Buzz Aldrin. Frank Borman was on the panel that investigated the Apollo 1 fire, and gave a moving speech before a Congressional panel that many people say might have kept the Apollo program's opponents from cancelling it. Bill Anders' background was kind of unique; he was born in Hong Kong, and while he graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, he was actually an Air Force officer. He was selected for astronaut training in 1963 as one of The Fourteen. He had served as the Pilot on the backup crew of Gemini 11; Apollo 8 was his first assignment to a prime crew. And it was going to be the first manned spaceship to orbit the Moon....Mike Collins was supposed to be the CMP on this crew, but doctors found a bone spur in his spine, and he had to have some surgery done. Jim Lovell had been on the backup crew with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, so he was moved up to the prime crew in Mike's place. NASA Photo.

 

Oct. 4, 1968: technicians check out the High-Gain Antenna of the Apollo 8 CSM (Spacecraft No. 103) in High Bay #3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building. The High-Gain Antenna will be a valuable part of the communications loop between Apollo 8 and the Earth; there is a lag of about 1.5 seconds or so between transmission and reception among the Apollo lunar spacecraft and Mission Control. The spacecraft is about to be mated to the adapter section, and the whole thing will be placed atop the Saturn V three days later. NASA Photo.

 

Frank, Jim, and Bill are on hand to watch the rollout of their moon rocket (Saturn V #503) from the VAB on Oct. 9th. (You gotta love Frank's shirt.) They would be the first men to ride the mighty Saturn V. Until NASA learned of the Soviets' progress in their lunar efforts, Apollo 8 was supposed to be the first test of the LM in Earth orbit; Jim McDivitt, Rusty Schweickart, and Dave Scott were supposed to fly the whole Apollo CSM/LM/Saturn V stack for the first time on this mission. The crew of Apollo 8 was originally supposed to be the crew of Apollo 9; it was to be a high-orbit CSM test. They would have flown out to an orbit of about 4,000 miles, turned around, and come screaming back at 23,000 or 24,000 MPH to simulate a re-entry from lunar-return trajectories and speeds. But the LM wasn't ready yet, and NASA needed to come up with something to trump the Soviets. Since McDivitt and his crew were still enthusiastic about flying the LM for the first time, and Frank's crew wasn't very far along in their training yet, Deke Slayton asked Frank about going up into orbit around the Moon around Christmastime....and so, the missions were swapped, and the Borman crew's original mission profile was scrapped. They were going to do a lunar-return re-entry, all right....Apollo 8 went to Frank, Jim, and Bill, and they were going to orbit the Moon. NASA Photo.

 

 

Back in Houston on Oct. 18th, Jim, Bill and Frank are in good spirits after a classroom session, during which they review the results of an SPS engine test, and review SPS engine burn procedures. From movies and TV, everybody is familiar with the NASA simulators and even the KC-135 Vomit Comet, or perhaps water-egress training and EVA training in the ocean or water tanks. But astronauts also spend untold hours in classrooms studying every detail of their launch vehicles, spacecraft, and mission. You don't just strap on a Saturn V and go. NASA Photos. 

 

 

Bill, Jim and Frank practice water egress procedures in Apollo Command Module Boilerplate #1102A, a mockup bobbing in the water in the Gulf of Mexico. It's Oct. 25, 1968. NASA Photo.

 

 

Building 29, Houston, Nov. 1, 1968: They're not praying-they're in the centrifuge. NASA Photo.

 

Launch Day-Dec. 21, 1968. The eyes of the world are on Kennedy Space Center; men are about to fly to the Moon for the first time, even if they aren't going to land. The media are set up to catch every minute of the countdown and launch. Here, CBS' legendary anchorman, Walter Cronkite, goes over his notes before going on the air. NASA Photo.

 

 

This would become a familiar sight over the next four years: three Apollo astronauts leaving the Crew Quarters in the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building at Kennedy Space Center, to board the transfer van that would take them to their waiting spacecraft. Frank Borman leads them out; he is going into space for the second time, and commanding a mission for the second time-commanding man's first flight to another world. Jim Lovell waves to the well-wishers, on his way into space for the third time; it seems like every time he flies, he makes history-participating in the first rendezvous in space and setting endurance records on Gemini 7, commanding the last Gemini mission, and now crewing Apollo 8....LMP and spaceflight rookie Bill Anders brings up the rear. What goes through your mind when you are about to make your first-ever space flight? Not only that, but what goes through your mind when your first-ever space flight is going to be mankind's first-ever trip around the Moon? And what goes through your mind when your first space flight is also the first manned flight of a 363-foot, 6.5-million-pound rocket that has only been test-flown twice? NASA Photo.

 

Pad 39A, 7:51 AM EST, Dec. 21, 1968: Apollo 8 sets off for the Moon. NASA Photo.

Video: Apollo 8 Launch from the MLP (WMV)

 

The press and spectators watch Apollo 8 leave. As you can see here, even the press had to develop special hardware for Apollo. And like some of NASA's Apollo-era hardware, some of this stuff is still used for space launches even today. NASA Photo.

 

Nobody has ever ridden the Saturn V before. As they thunder into the early-morning sky, Frank, Jim, and Bill note that the booster gives a smooth ride-especially compared to the Gemini-Titan II. There is a lot of noise and vibration-notably a sort of jerky motion produced by the powerful rocket expanding and contracting, a phenomenon that would come to be known as the "pogo effect"-but it's not nearly as rough as the high-G, you-might-as-well-be-a-warhead ride delivered by a Titan II! The Saturns are purpose-built space launchers, and they act like it. Wernher von Braun and his team have done a fine job, as have the thousands of people around the nation who helped build the Saturn V and the spacecraft itself. NASA Photo.

 

CONTINUED....