Apollo 8
"Round the moon and back…"
Mission Type
crew
Launch
SPLASHDOWN
Frank Borman
Commander
Frank Borman was selected as a NASA Astronaut in the second group in 1962. He was a veteran of the Gemini 7 space orbital rendezvous mission with Gemini 6 before being named as the commander of Apollo 8, the first lunar orbital mission, in 1968.
More About Frank Borman
James A. Lovell, Jr.
Command Module Pilot
Captain James Lovell was selected as an Astronaut by NASA in September 1962. He flew on 4 missions over his NASA Career: Gemini VII and XII, Apollo 8, and Apollo 13. He held the record for time in space with a total of 715 hours and 5 minutes until surpassed by the Skylab flights.
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William A. Anders
Lunar Module Pilot
Selected as an astronaut in NASA’s third astronaut group, William Anders was on the backup crew for Gemini XI, flew on NASA’s first crewed lunar orbit mission on the Apollo 8 spacecraft, and served on the backup crew for Apollo 11. In the summer of 1969, he left NASA to serve as the Executive Secretary for the National Aeronautics and Space Council. Anders took the “Earthrise” photo while in lunar orbit on December 24, 1968.
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More About Apollo 8
Read more about the Apollo 8 mission and its crew.
On Christmas Day in 1968, the three-man Apollo 8 crew of Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders found a…
Christmas Eve, 1968. As one of the most turbulent, tragic years in American history drew to a close, millions around…
It was Christmas Day 1968, and after spending 20 hours orbiting the Moon, the Apollo 8 crew of Frank Borman,…
Precisely on time on Dec. 24, 1968, Mission Control lost contact with Apollo 8 and its crew of Frank Borman,…
Part 4: The ReturnPart 3: The Far SidePart 2: In the Beginning There Was LiftoffPart 1: To the Moon and…
In the early morning of Dec. 21, 1968, at Kennedy Space Center’s (KSC) Launch Pad 39A, the five engines of…
Apollo 8 From Launch to Splashdown
The Apollo Flight Journal is a trove of detailed information about the Apollo missions. Transcripts, commentary, related documents, images, and videos from the Apollo 8 mission are available for you to explore.
Visit the Apollo 8 Flight Journal
