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Apollo 8 launched on December 21, 1968, and was the second crewed spaceflight mission flown in the United States Apollo space program (the first, Apollo 7, stayed in Earth orbit). Apollo 8 was the third flight and the first crewed launch of the Saturn V rocket.
First, Apollo 20 was cut to make a Saturn V available to launch the Skylab space station whole instead of building it on-orbit using multiple Saturn IB launches. [45] Eight months later, Apollo 18 and 19 were also cut to further economize, and because of fears of increased chance of failure with a large number of lunar flights. [46] [47]
In December 1968, Apollo 8 was the first crewed spacecraft to orbit the Moon. On 21 July 1969, Neil Armstrong, the Commander of Apollo 11, and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the Moon. [23] The Apollo Spacecraft comprised: The Apollo command and service module (1968–1975), three-person Earth and lunar orbital craft [24]
Pages in category "Apollo 8" The following 11 pages are in this category, out of 11 total. This list may not reflect recent changes. ...
Apollo 8, originally scheduled for 1969, was pushed forward because of concerns the Russians were accelerating their own plans for a trip around the moon by the end of 1968.
In addition, the three-person crews of Apollo 8 and Apollo 10 also entered lunar orbit, and the crew of Apollo 13 looped around the Moon on a free-return trajectory. All nine crewed missions to the Moon took place as part of the Apollo program over a period of just under four years, from 21 December 1968 to 19 December 1972.
Frank Borman, commander of the December 1968 Apollo 8 mission that was the first to fly around the moon, died Nov. 7 at age 95.
Apollo 8 was the first crewed spacecraft to orbit another celestial body, and Apollo 11 was the first crewed spacecraft to land humans on one. Overall, the Apollo program returned 842 pounds (382 kg) of lunar rocks and soil to Earth, greatly contributing to the understanding of the Moon's composition and geological history.