Apollo 8

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Mission emblem
Mission emblem Apollo 8
Mission dates
Mission: Apollo 8
COSPAR-ID : 1968-118A
Command module: CM-103
Service module: SM-103
Lunar Module: Lunar Test Article (LTA-B)
Launcher: Saturn V , serial number SA-503
Crew: 3
Begin: December 21, 1968, 12:51:00  UTC
JD : 2440212.0354167
Starting place: Kennedy Space Center , LC-39A
Lunar orbits: 10
Time in lunar orbit: 20 h 10 min 13 s
Landing: December 27, 1968, 15:51:42 UTC
JD : 2440218.1609028
Landing place: Pacific
8 ° 6 ′  N , 165 ° 0 ′  W
Flight duration: 6d 3h 0min 42s
Recovery ship: USS Yorktown
Team photo
v. l. No. William Anders, James Lovell, Frank Borman
v. l. No. William Anders , James Lovell , Frank Borman
◄ Before / After ►
Apollo 7
(manned) 		Apollo 9
(manned)

Apollo 8 was the second manned space flight of the US Apollo program and the first manned flight to the moon and thus to another celestial body . The three astronauts Frank Borman , William Anders and James "Jim" Lovell were the first people to see the back of the moon with their own eyes .

Apollo 8 took off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on the morning of December 21, 1968 at 7:51:00  local time (EST) , (12:51  UTC ) and reached lunar orbit three days later, on Christmas Eve 1968. The television broadcast from the moon orbit , during which the three astronauts read the first lines of the biblical creation story as a Christmas message, and the Earthrise photo taken on this mission, achieved great fame.

After having orbited the moon ten times, the astronauts initiated their return to Earth on December 25 (06:10 UTC), where Apollo 8 landed in the Pacific Ocean on December 27 (15:51 UTC) . The command module (also known as the Apollo capsule or English command module ) was recovered from the USS Yorktown (CV-10) .

Planning

On December 22, 1966, NASA introduced Frank Borman, Michael Collins, and William Anders to the public as crew for the third manned flight of the Apollo program. Your mission E was to test the lunar module (LM) in a high earth orbit and was scheduled for spring 1969. Collins had to undergo surgery for a herniated disc in July 1968 , which is why his substitute James Lovell moved up to the crew.

In June 1968 it became clear that Grumman could not complete the lunar module by the planned flight date at the end of the year, as more than 100 different errors and problems prevented its use. The earliest completion date was given by the Grumman engineers as February 1969, which posed problems for NASA with the mission planning. Without the lunar module, the next mission would be a pure repetition of the flight of Apollo 7, postponing the flight to 1969 might have postponed the entire moon flight program and made the goal of a moon landing impossible until the end of the decade.

George Michael Low , manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office, therefore suggested at the beginning of August that the Apollo 8 mission be restructured and the astronauts sent to the moon on the Saturn V. Mission D, the testing of the Lunar Module, should be postponed, Mission E canceled. The crew of Mission E should take over the moon flight. Low received support from Wernher von Braun , who, after initial problems with the rocket, now saw it ready for a manned flight. " Once you decide to man [a Saturn 5] it doesn't matter how far you go " (German: "If you decide to man it [the Saturn 5], it doesn't matter how far you fly." )

Before making a final decision, Deke Slayton , director of NASA's astronaut office, spoke to the astronauts about the planned mission. All three agreed to the plan changes immediately, only Anders was disappointed that his 18 months of training for the Lunar Module had been in vain. James Webb , Director of NASA, was initially not particularly impressed by the idea (“ Are you out of your mind? ”), As he, like some other high-ranking NASA members, had safety concerns . On the one hand, the crew of Apollo 8 with the Service Propulsion System (SPS) had only one engine at their disposal; a failure could not be compensated for by another LM engine. (However, a free return path to the moon was planned for Apollo 8 anyway , in contrast to Apollo 13 , for example , where the LM engine made it possible to return to earth.) Above all, if the life support systems of the command module failed, as it was to happen later at Apollo 13, without the energy and oxygen resources of the LM there would be no possibility of rescue for the astronauts. Ultimately, however, Webb was persuaded, also because the CIA provided information about Soviet preparations for the launch of their own moon rocket . NASA began planning on August 19 for the mission now called C '(C prime), which was to take people to the moon for the first time. Webb decided not to inform the public of the exact destination of the flight until after the previous Apollo 7 mission was completed ; until then the exact flight plans were not published. On September 8, the crew began training for space flight. In the simulator, Borman practiced the control of the spaceship during the re-entry phase, Lovell trained the navigation of the spaceship using fixed stars in order to be able to continue calculating the flight path in the event of a radio connection to Earth being broken. The control of the functions of the spaceship was different.

After the successful maiden flight of the Apollo spacecraft from October 11 to 22, 1968 and two launches of Soviet Zond spacecraft in September and November, NASA announced on November 12 that Apollo 8 would fly to the moon at the tip of Saturn V. The final decision had been made two days earlier during a meeting of all those responsible and was supposed to forestall a manned Soviet launch to the moon, which was also expected in December 1968.

team

James A. Lovell Jr., William A. Anders, and Frank Borman

Apollo 8 was commanded by Frank Borman , Colonel of the Air Force . He was a member of the second astronaut group selected on September 17, 1962. Previously, he had in 1957 a Master of Science degree obtained in aerospace engineering and an assistant professor of up to 1960 Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics at the Military Academy in West Point taught. Borman had already made a 14-day long-term flight with Gemini 7 in 1965 .

The pilot of the command module was James Lovell , captain of the US Navy and also an astronaut of the second selection group. He had earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Naval Academy in 1952 . Lovell had already flown with Frank Borman during the record flight of Gemini 7 and had completed a second space flight as commander of Gemini 12 . Lovell was considered one of NASA's most experienced astronauts.

William Anders , the third member of the crew, Major in the Air Force and astronaut on October 17, 1963, Third Selection Group, was a space novice. Originally assigned to pilot the Lunar Module, he now took on the role of flight engineer and photographer. In addition to Borman, he was a crew member with a well-founded scientific education, Anders had a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and a master of science in nuclear technology, and he had also attended several courses in geology at NASA .

Replacement and support team, staff in the control center

The replacement crew, which should replace the regular crew in the event of illness or otherwise due to absence, was led by Neil Armstrong as commander. Originally, Jim Lovell was the Command Module Pilot and Edwin Aldrin the Lunar Module Pilot. When Lovell replaced Collins in the main crew as Command Module pilot, Aldrin took his position and Fred Haise became the new Lunar Module pilot .

Vance Brand , Gerald Carr and Ken Mattingly served as the support crew that supported the astronauts during training .

Flight Directors at the Houston Control Center during the flight were Clifford E. Charlesworth (Green Team), Glynn S. Lunney (Black Team) and Milton L. Windler (Brown Team). An astronaut was assigned to each team as a CapCom (liaison officer for the control center spaceship). For the Green Team, it was Michael Collins; Gerald Carr worked with Lunney; the brown team was assigned to Ken Mattingly.

Mission badge

The triangular-round shape of the badge shows the contour of the cone shape of the command module of Apollo. It has a red figure eight looped around the earth (blue, green) and the moon (yellow) and symbolizes the number of the flight, the trajectory and at the same time the infinity of space. At the bottom of the ribbon of eight are the names of the three astronauts. The badge was designed by James Lovell shortly after he learned of the mission plan change.

Saturn v

The Saturn V on its way to Launch Pad 39A

The Apollo 8 mission's Saturn V rocket bore the serial number SA-503 (sometimes referred to as AS-503). SA was the abbreviation for Saturn-Apollo; the number was composed of the 5 for the Saturn V and the 03 for the third flight of the rocket model. The erection of the Saturn V began on December 27, 1967 in High Bay 1 of the Vertical Assembly Building with the arrival of the S-IC stage and was completed in January 1968. It was originally intended for Mission D, the first trial of the lunar module. At the end of April 1968, the rocket was dismantled again and the S-II stage was subjected to a thorough test in the Mississippi Test Facility to ensure its suitability for manned flight. In May, a first stage F-1 engine had to be replaced because it leaked. The re-assembly of the missile was completed on August 15th.

On August 19, 1968, the change in the mission plan was decided and the rocket was assigned to the first manned flight to the moon. It was supposed to bring the command module CM-103, the associated service module SM-103 and the “Lunar module test article” LTA-B (mass approx. 9 t) into a lunar orbit. The command and service module was mounted on the top of the Saturn V on October 7; after final checks, the rocket was crawled to Launch Pad 39A , 5 km away, on October 9th .

Mission history

Start preparations

The Apollo 8 crew leaves the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building a few hours before takeoff

On December 2, 1968, the tanks of the first stage of the Saturn rocket were filled for the first time with RP-1, a highly distilled kerosene , and liquid oxygen and then pressurized. On December 5th, the five-day Count Down Demonstration Test (CDDT) began, which simulated the start process. After the test, the tanks were emptied again.

The starting countdown began on December 15, 1968 at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) , at T −103 hours. At T −9 hours the countdown was paused for 6 hours in order to be able to fix minor problems. Filling of the rocket stages with liquid oxygen, kerosene and liquid hydrogen began 8 hours before the planned launch date, shortly before midnight on December 20th. This work took about three and a half hours before the start. The work was monitored by the replacement crew (Armstrong, Aldrin and Haise), who had also checked the functionality of the spaceship the evening before.

The three astronauts were awakened at 2:36 a.m. After a thorough medical examination, a breakfast with the heads and officials of NASA followed at 3:30 in the morning. Shortly after 4 a.m., the three astronauts, assisted by several technicians, began to put on their spacesuits , at 4:32 a.m. they left the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building and were taken to the launch platform by transporter. After the crew had been taken to the top of the rocket by elevator, the boarding procedure began at 4:58 a.m. It took about ten minutes for all three astronauts to be strapped into the Apollo capsule and the hatch to be hermetically sealed.

Start and Trans Lunar Injection

Apollo 8 takes off

25 minutes before the start, the power supply of the command module was switched from external to internal supply; the energy was now supplied by three fuel cells . At T −5 minutes, the topmost of the nine connecting arms was swung to one side, which would have enabled the crew to escape in an emergency. Two minutes before the start, the oxygen tanks of the first stage were pressurized by means of helium , which was supplied from the outside, and one minute later the tanks of the other two stages were also pressurized. Another ten seconds later, on-board batteries took over the electrical supply of the missile systems. The ignition sequence was initiated at 7:50:52 local time (12:50:52  UTC ), the Saturn V was held by brackets while the five F-1 engines were building up thrust. 8 seconds later, at 7:51 (EST), the rocket took off - (board time: 000: 00: 00 in hhh: mm: ss).

After 13 seconds, the Saturn V had passed the cable tower and turned slightly in a northeasterly direction, heading 72 °. After 2 minutes, 36 seconds, the first stage was burned out and separated. She had accelerated Apollo 8 to 6,818.4 km / h and fell from an altitude of 65.7 km into the Atlantic Ocean ( 30 ° 12 ′ 0 ″  N , 74 ° 7 ′ 0 ″  W ). A second later, the five second stage J-2 engines fired, accelerating the rocket further. 3 minutes and 25 seconds after take-off, the rescue tower of the Apollo capsule was blown off. About 8 minutes after the start, shortly before the end of the burning phase of the second stage, slight pogo oscillations occurred. 8 minutes and 44 seconds after take-off, the second stage was also burned out, detached, and fell back to Earth ( 31 ° 50 ′ 0 ″  N , 37 ° 17 ′ 0 ″  W ). 4 seconds after the separation, the S-IVB stage ignited, which should bring Apollo 8 to an earth orbit at 190.7 km altitude. The S-IVB burned out 11 minutes and 30 seconds after take-off at a speed of 28,065.6 km / h (7,796 m / s). The orbit was not exactly circular - as planned - but slightly elliptical, with a perigee of 179.2 km and an apogee of 190 km.

During the next two orbits of the earth, all systems of the spaceship were checked to see whether they were ready for the flight to the moon. A minor incident happened when Jim Lovell made an unfortunate move that triggered the life jacket of his spacesuit. As this was filled with pure carbon dioxide , the contents could not be released into the capsule, as the CO 2 would have saturated the lithium hydroxide filters of the Apollo capsule. Lovell managed by dumping the vest into the "urine dump", ie the toilet of the spaceship and thus into space. 2 hours and 27 minutes after takeoff, during the second orbit, Apollo 8 then received clearance to launch into the moon (Trans Lunar Injection, TLI).

You are go for TLI.

"Apollo 8, Houston."

- Michael Collins, CapCom

"Go ahead, Houston."

- Frank Borman, CDR

“Apollo 8. You are Go for TLI. Over. "

- Michael Collins

“Roger. We understand; we are Go for TLI. "

- Frank Borman

Two hours, 50 minutes and 40 seconds after takeoff, the S-IVB stage was detonated for the second time high above the Pacific , north of Hawaii . She continued to accelerate the spaceship for 5 minutes and 17 seconds until it reached a speed of 38,959.2 km / h (10,822 m / s) at the end of the burn, at an altitude of 346.7 km. Apollo 8 was on its way to the moon.

Flight to the moon

View of the detached S-IVB stage, surrounded by pseudostars made from frozen fuel

The first task on the flight was to disconnect the S-IVB stage that had put the spacecraft on course for the moon. Three hours and 21 minutes after take-off, at 11:14 am (EST), the bolts that had connected the third stage to the service module were blown. Commander Frank Borman used the attitude control system to turn the spaceship 180 degrees and move it about 300 m away from the step. Next, the directional antenna on the service module was extended, which enabled a better radio link in the microwave range to the earth. 40 minutes after shooting into the moon, the spaceship was already 12,000 km from Earth, and the crew saw the entire earth as a sphere for the first time.

Jim Lovell's first position determinations of the spaceship were made more difficult by the fuel escaping from the S-IVB stage and freezing in the cold of the room, since the crystals reflected the sunlight and, as "pseudostars", obstructed the view of the fixed stars required for navigation. In order to move the third stage of the Saturn V, which was still on the same course as the Apollo spacecraft, to a different trajectory and thus also to avoid endangering the spacecraft and its crew, an hour and a half after the stage separation (flight time five hours, eight minutes) the oxygen remaining in the stage was suddenly released. This maneuver reduced the speed of the stage by about 30 meters per second at a flight speed of about 11 km / s, but this small change was enough to steer the S-IVB into a solar orbit, which it swings by - Maneuver over the east side of the moon - facing away from its orbit - would achieve.

At about the same time, the crew of Apollo 8 began with the first preparations for the first ignition of the service propulsion system , the engine of the service module. The course correction, which was to take place about eleven hours after take-off, was the decisive test for the functionality of the engine, which was required to decelerate and re-accelerate the spacecraft in orbit around the moon. Eleven hours and one minute after the start of the flight, the engine was ignited; the burn time was only two and a half seconds. However, this brief ignition was sufficient to change the course of the spaceship in such a way that no further corrections were necessary until it entered the lunar orbit. If the ignition had failed, Apollo 8 would have remained on its free return path, which would have led it back to earth after half-orbiting the moon.

About 20 hours after take-off, Frank Borman had a fit of nausea and vomited twice. He had recently taken a Seconal sleeping pill because he was unable to fall asleep in weightlessness. First fears that Borman had developed a gastrointestinal inflammation or that he had become ill from radiation from the Van Allen Belt dispelled when the commander's condition improved a few hours later. Due to the possible endangerment of the crew from gastrointestinal flu, there were brief discussions about aborting the flight to the moon. Lovell and Anders also suffered from mild nausea for the first few hours of the flight; but with them it was a matter of a slight space sickness which subsided after acclimatization in weightlessness.

31 hours and 11 minutes after take-off, at 3:03 p.m. Florida time on December 22, 1968, the Apollo 8 crew completed their first of six scheduled live television transmissions from a distance of 221,940 km from Earth. Bill Anders acted as cameraman; he filmed Borman and Lovell demonstrating to viewers the effect of weightlessness in the command module. Attempts to show the earth failed because of the telephoto lens of the television camera, which could not be mounted. Taken with the wide-angle lens, the earth only appeared as a bright spot of light on the screens. The live broadcast lasted 15 minutes and ended at 3:18 pm (EST).

The three astronauts spent the 24 hours until the next television broadcast alternately monitoring the on-board systems and aligning the spaceship. A relaxation of the flight schedule was negotiated with flight control in Houston in order to give the astronauts more rest periods. On the morning of the third day of flight, the crew was in better physical condition and was also more rested than the days before. At 14:58 (EST) (board time: 055: 07: 36) the second television broadcast of Apollo 8 began. Commander Borman had mounted the camera in the left rendezvous window and aimed the spaceship at Earth. After a few corrective maneuvers, the earth was in the center of the window - Apollo 8 transmitted the first clear live images of the entire earth from a distance of 325,000 km. Jim Lovell described the sight:

Jim Lovell describes the earth

“What you're seeing, Mike, is a - Houston, what you are seeing is the Western Hemisphere. Looking at the top is the North Pole; in the center - just lower to the center is South America - all the way down to Cape Horn. I can see Baja California and the southwestern part of the United States. There's a big, long cloud bank going northeast, covers a lot of the Gulf of Mexico, going up to the eastern part of the United States, and it appears now that the east coast is cloudy. I can see clouds over parts of Mexico; the parts of Central America are clear. And we can also see the white, bright spot of the subsolar point on the light side of the Earth. "

“What you see Mike is the… Houston, what you see is the Western Hemisphere. Seen from here, the North Pole is up. In the middle, a little below the middle, is South America, all the way down to Cape Horn. I can see Baja California and the southwestern part of the United States. It seems that the east coast is cloudy now. I can see clouds over parts of Mexico. The main part of Central America is clear. And we can also see the bright white glow of the sub- solar point on the sunny side of the earth. "

- Jim Lovell
Black and white live image of the earth from a distance of around 325,000 km. North is left.

After a brief hiatus from CapCom Mike Collins, he continued:

"OK. For colors, the waters are all sort of a royal blue; clouds, of course, are bright white; the reflection off the earth is - appears much greater than the moon. The land areas are generally a brownish - sort of dark brownish to light brown in texture. Many of the vortices of clouds can be seen of the various weather cells, and a long band of - it appears cirrus clouds that extend from the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico going straight out across the Atlantic. The terminator, of course, cuts through the Atlantic Ocean right now, going from north to south. [The] southern hemisphere is almost completely clouded over, and up near the North Pole there is quite a few clouds. Southwestern Texas and southwestern United States is clear. I'd say there are some clouds up in the northwest and over in the northeast portion. "

"OK. As for the colors: the bodies of water are all more or less a royal blue . Clouds are of course dazzling white. The reflection of the earth appears much stronger than that of the moon. The land masses are generally brown in color, roughly dark brown to light brown in texture. Many bands of cloud form weather cells, and a long band of cirrus clouds stretches straight across the Atlantic from the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico. The Terminator , of course, currently cuts through the Atlantic Ocean, from north to south. The southern hemisphere is almost completely cloudy, and there are a lot of clouds up at the North Pole. The south, southwest Texas, and the southern United States are cloud free. I would say that there are some clouds over the northwest and northeast parts. "

- Jim Lovell

"You are looking at yourselves at 180,000 miles out in space."

"You see yourself from 180,000 miles in space."

- Frank Borman

After a few minutes, Jim Lovell added:

"Mike, what I keep imagining is, if I'm a - some lonely traveler from another planet, what I think about the Earth at this altitude, whether I think it'd be inhabited or not."

"Mike, what I keep thinking about: if I were a lonely traveler from another planet, what I would think about this earth at this distance. Whether I would consider it to be inhabited or not. "

- Jim Lovell

Lunar orbit

The second television broadcast from the ship ended after 23 minutes. Almost ten minutes later (board time: 055: 39) the Apollo spacecraft crossed the point of equal attraction between the moon and earth. At a distance of 326,400 km from Earth, the speed of the spacecraft was just 3565 km / h, the lowest value during the entire journey. Apollo 8 was slowed down more and more by the gravitational pull of the earth, from this point on, at a distance of 62,000 km from the moon, the speed increased again by the gravitation of the moon. A corrective maneuver with the attitude control engines of the service module brought Apollo 8 on the desired course around the moon 61 hours after the start.

At around 2 am on December 24th, the team began preparations for the “Lunar Orbit Insertion”, the launch into the lunar orbit. The data for the engine ignition and the spatial position were entered into the on-board computer , the spaceship was aligned in space for the ignition of the engine (on-board time: 066: 02: 40). In order for the spaceship to be braked by the ignition, the engine had to point in the direction of flight, the command module and thus the crew's gaze was directed to earth. Anders compared the flight with a submarine, as the crew could not see anything of the target, the moon, until now. For celestial mechanical reasons, the ignition of the engine had to take place on the back of the moon - in the radio shadow of the moon and outside the influence of flight control in Houston. For this reason, all systems have been thoroughly checked; a malfunction could have serious consequences and possibly even endanger the life of the crew.

Lunar Orbit Insertion

At 3:52 (EST) (board time: 068:04), CapCom Gerald Carr transmitted the release for the ignition to the crew.

“Apollo 8, this is Houston. At 68:04, you're Go for LOI. "

- Gerald Carr

(Lunar Orbit Insertion)

In the hour that followed, until the spaceship lost its signal behind the moon, communications between Apollo and Houston intensified. Status reports about distance, speed and condition of the spaceship are exchanged. Loss of contact with the spaceship was predicted at 4:49 a.m. (EST).

“Apollo 8, 10 seconds to go [to LOS]. You're Go all the way. "

"Apollo 8, 10 seconds to LOS (Loss of Signal). You are "Go" from front to back "

- Gerald Carr

"Roger"

- Frank Borman

On December 24, 1968 at 4:49:02 (EST) (board time: 068: 58: 02), Apollo 8 disappeared behind the moon and radio contact was lost.

The planned time for the ignition of the engine was set at board time: 069: 08: 52, i.e. ten minutes and 50 seconds after the radio link was interrupted. Under normal conditions, it was to be assumed that flight control in Houston would not be informed of this maneuver until 24 minutes later, when Apollo 8 reappeared from the radio shadow of the moon. If the Acquisition of Signal (AOS) had taken place ten minutes earlier, the engine would not have ignited and the spaceship would not have been in lunar orbit.

When Jim Lovell answered the calls from ground control at 5:19 am (boarding time: 069: 34: 07), cheers broke out in the control room. The spaceship had swiveled into an elliptical orbit, the pericynthion (point near the moon) was 112 km, the apocynthium (point far from the moon) was 312 km. The orbit was inclined by two degrees to the lunar equator in order to be able to photograph all the planned landing sites for later missions. The transmitted telemetry data showed that the engine had fired for four minutes and six and a half seconds as planned. Commander Borman pointed the tip of the spaceship toward the moon so that there was a good view of the lunar surface through the front windows of the command module.

Mare Tranquillitatis photographed from Apollo 8

Jim Lovell provided a first description of the lunar surface some time later:

“Apollo 8, Houston. What does the ole Moon look like from 60 miles? Over. "

"Apollo 8, Houston. What does the old moon look like from 60 miles away? Over. "

- Gerald Carr

“Okay, Houston. The moon is essentially gray, no color; looks like plaster of Paris or sort of a grayish beach sand. We can see quite a bit of detail. The Sea of ​​Fertility doesn't stand out as well here as it does back on Earth. There's not as much contrast between that and the surrounding craters. The craters are all rounded off. There's quite a few of them, some of them are newer. Many of them look like - especially the round ones - look like hit by meteorites or projectiles of some sort. Langrenus is quite a huge crater; it's got a central cone to it. The walls of the crater are terraced, about six or seven different terraces on the way down. "

"Okay, Houston. The moon is essentially gray, no colors. Looks like plaster of paris or grayish beach sand. We can see a great deal of detail. The Mare Fecunditatis is not as clearly drawn from here as it is from the ground. There is not much contrast between it and the surrounding craters. The craters are all rounded. There are quite a few of them, some of which are more recent. Many of them, especially the round ones, look as if they were hit by meteorites or other projectiles. Langrenus is a huge crater. It has a central cone. The walls of the crater are tiered, about six or seven different terraces on the way down. "

- Jim Lovell

At the same time, Anders and Borman began taking photographs of the lunar surface. They used several cameras, including a series camera that continuously photographed the moon surface overflown as well as various film cameras. After various telemetric and technical data had been transmitted, the crew got ready for the second loss of signal (contact breakage), which is to take place at board time: 070: 56: 35. After radio contact was broken, the crew then prepared on the far side of the moon for the third live broadcast during the flight and the first of two from the lunar orbit. In the meantime, the crew continued to photograph the surface of the moon and also took a large number of pictures of the previously largely unknown back of the moon. At 7:31 am (EST) (board time: 071: 40), Apollo 8 reappeared from the radio shadow and transmitted the first live television images of the lunar surface as it passed under the spaceship. During the 13-minute broadcast, the three astronauts described their impressions of the surface and compared them with maps of the moon. In addition, the programming of the on-board computer for a further ignition of the main engine was started, which should change the orbit into a circular path.

The ignition took place at board time: 073: 35: 06 on the back of the moon; the eleven-second ignition put the Apollo spacecraft into a circular orbit 111.7 km above the lunar surface. In the now circular orbit, Anders started a stereoscopic camera that provided three-dimensional images of the surface. The camera ran for the entire third orbit of the moon and photographed a wide strip of the moon's surface.

Earthrise

The first photo of the rise of the earth above the lunar horizon, taken by Frank Borman.

While the spaceship was on the far side of the moon for the third time, Anders completed the stereographic recordings. Shortly before the spaceship came out from behind the moon and regained radio contact with the earth, Borman let the spaceship rotate around its longitudinal axis, whereby the earth came into the field of vision of the flight engineer. When Anders happened to look out of the windows of the spaceship, he saw a blue and white arc over the horizon of the moon, which was rapidly growing.

“Oh, my God! Look at that picture over there! Here's the Earth coming up. Wow, is that pretty! "

"Oh my God! Look at this picture there! The earth rises here. Wow, that's nice! "

- Frank Borman
The famous color image of the rise of the earth , taken by Bill Anders shortly after the first photo

When Borman reached for the camera to capture the sight, Bill Anders quipped: “ Hey, don't take that, it's not scheduled. ”(German:“ Hey, don't take pictures. That's not planned. ”) Borman then passed the camera on to Anders, who inserted a color film and took more photos.

During the following two orbits of the moon, the crew devoted themselves to the photographic and cartographic recording of the moon. Radar measurements of the flight path of Apollo 8 also allowed more precise conclusions to be drawn about the mascons below the surface of the moon, which influenced the orbit of the spaceship. During the seventh orbit around the moon, Commander Borman decided to change the flight plan, to skip the planned experiments and to allow his crew some relaxation and sleep after the exertions of the last few days. Borman himself stayed awake to control the spaceship's position; He sent Lovell and Anders to sleep in an emphatic voice. (“ I want you to get your ass in bed! Right now! No, get to bed! Go to bed! Hurry up! I'm not kidding you, get to bed! ” ( Frank Borman to Bill Anders : I want, that you move your ass to bed! Now! No, go to bed! Hurry up! I'm not joking, go to bed!))

In the following two circumnavigations, Anders and Lovell rested in their sleeping bags in the lower part of the command module while Borman stayed at the controls. When the spaceship was on the far side of the moon for the eighth time, the crew began preparations for the fourth television broadcast, which was to begin around 9:30 p.m. East Coast Time.

Christmas message

On December 24th at 9:31 pm (EST) (board time: 085: 43) the spaceship appeared behind the moon and transmitted the first television images to earth. The crew had aimed the camera and the spaceship in the direction of flight and transmitted the image of the earth slowly rising above the lunar horizon. A minute later the image changed and showed the barren surface of the moon, which slowly passed under the spaceship. Commander Frank Borman described his impressions:

This is Apollo 8, coming to you live from the moon.

“This is Apollo 8, coming to you live from the moon. We've had to switch the TV camera now. We showed you first a view of Earth as we've been watching it for the past 16 hours. Now we're switching so that we can show you the moon that we've been flying over at 60 miles altitude for the last 16 hours. Bill Anders, Jim Lovell, and myself have spent the day before Christmas up here doing experiments, taking pictures, and firing our spacecraft engines to maneuver around. What we'll do now is follow the trail that we've been following all day and take you on through to a lunar sunset. The moon is a different thing to each one of us. I think that each one of - each one carries his own impression of what he's seen today. I know my own impression is that it's a vast, lonely, forbidding-type existence, or expanse of nothing, that looks rather like clouds and clouds of pumice stone […] and it certainly would not appear to be a very […] inviting place to live or work. Jim what have you thought most about? "

“Here is Apollo 8 broadcast live from the moon. We switched the camera. First we showed you a picture of the earth as we have seen it for the past 16 hours. Now we're switching over so we can show you the moon we've been flying over at an altitude of 60 miles for 16 hours. Bill Anders, Jim Lovell and I spent Christmas Eve up here doing experiments, taking photos, and holding the spaceship in position with its engines. We will now continue our course like we did all day and take you to a sunset on the moon. The moon means something different to each of us. I think each of us will take away our own impression of what we saw today. I know my own impression is that of a vast, lonely expanse of nothing. It looks like clouds over clouds of pumice stone. And in any case, it doesn't seem very inviting as a place to live or work. Jim, what have you been thinking about the most? "

- Frank Borman

Jim Lovell continued:

“Well, Frank, my thoughts are very similar. The vast loneliness up here of the moon is awe inspiring, and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth. The Earth from here is a grand oasis in the big vastness of space. "

“Yes, Frank, my thoughts are similar. The gigantic loneliness of the moon up here is frightening, and it allows you to understand what you really have back home on earth. Seen from here, the earth is a grandiose oasis in the vast desert of space. "

- Jim Lovell

Bill Anders' impressions were a bit more positive:

“I think the thing that impressed me the most was the lunar sunrises and sunsets. These in particular bring out the stark nature of the terrain, and the long shadows really bring out the relief that is here and hard to see at this very bright surface that we're going over right now. "

“I think what struck me the most were the lunar sunrises and sunsets. In particular, they bring out the bare, raw nature of the landscape and the long shadows clearly draw the relief of the landscape, which is now barely recognizable in the brightness of the surface. "

- Bill Anders

During the further flight the crew described the surface of the moon, the craters and the Maria. As the spaceship neared the Terminator, the boundary between day and night on the moon, Bill Anders continued:

Reading from the creation story

“We are now approaching lunar sunrise, and for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you. In the beginning, God created the Heaven and the Earth. And the Earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, and God said, 'Let there be light.' And there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness. "

“We are now approaching the lunar sunrise. And for everyone down on earth, the Apollo 8 crew has a message that we want to send you: In the beginning God created heaven and earth. And the earth was desolate and empty, and it was dark on the deep. The Spirit of God hovered over the water and God said: Let there be light. And there was light. And God saw that the light was good, and God divided the light from the darkness. "

- Bill Anders
The surface of the moon with the Goclenius crater in the foreground; taken by Apollo 8.

“And God called the light day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said, 'Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters. And let it divide the waters from the waters. ' And God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. "

“And God called the light day and the darkness he called night. Then evening and morning became the first day. And God said, Let there be a vault between the waters that divides between the waters. So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above the vault. And so it happened. And God called the vault heaven. Then evening and morning became the second day. "

- Jim Lovell

“And God said, 'Let the waters under the Heavens be gathered together into one place. And let the dry land appear. ' And it was so. And God called the dry land Earth. And the gathering together of the waters called he seas. And God saw that it was good. And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas and God bless all of you - all of you on the good Earth. "

“And God said: Let the water gather in special places under the sky. Let dry land appear. And so it happened. And God called the dry land earth, and the waters he called the sea. And god saw, that it was good. And from the crew of Apollo 8: We close with a good night, good luck, merry Christmas and God bless you all - all of you on the good earth. "

- Frank Borman

Return to earth

With the completion of the 29-minute live broadcast at 10 p.m., the crew began preparing for the tenth and final orbit of the moon. After the spaceship stepped out of the shadow of the moon, Anders and Borman began programming the on-board computer to ignite the engine, which should bring the ship on course towards earth. The ignition had to take place, like the two before, on the back of the moon and thus without radio contact with the earth. A functioning of the engine was essential, as otherwise the astronauts would have been stranded in the lunar orbit without any means of rescue.

88 hours and 51 minutes after takeoff, shortly after midnight on December 25th, the spacecraft disappeared behind the moon for the last time. The engine was ignited 28 minutes later. The 198 seconds burn time accelerated the Apollo spacecraft by 1 km / s and brought it out of the gravitational pull of the moon on course to earth. 15 minutes after the engine fired, the spaceship came out from behind the moon and Jim Lovell conveyed with the words “ Houston, Apollo 8. Please be informed there is a Santa Claus. ”(German:“ Houston, Apollo 8. Please note that there is a Santa Claus ”) the successful ignition. Shortly thereafter, however, he gave the control center a fright when he announced a burn time that was too short by one minute, which would mean that the speed of the spaceship was too slow. Lovell noticed his mistake and corrected himself.

The earth from about 30,000 km away, taken on the morning of the seventh day of flight

In the minutes and hours that followed, the mood was relaxed. For the first time, ground control joked and the crew over the radio and Christmas greetings were transmitted. A few hours later, however, the ground control lost radio contact with Apollo 8, which turned out to be a loose contact of a plug after three quarters of an hour and was quickly remedied. The following hours passed without further incident. Eleven hours and 28 minutes after the moon escape maneuver, Apollo 8 left the moon's gravitational field. The speed, which had dropped to 4,480 km / h in the last few hours, has now increased again. Two hours and 13 minutes later, Commander Borman carried out a small course correction with the attitude control system of the service module, which brought the spaceship so precisely on course that no further corrections were necessary until reentry. Immediately afterwards, the crew began to prepare for the fifth television broadcast from board, which was to begin at 16:15 (EST) (board time: 104: 24: 54). During the ten-minute live broadcast, the crew showed viewers inside the command module in which they had lived for the past four days. After the transfer was completed, the crew was pleased to see that there was no freeze-dried food for Christmas meal like the days before, but turkey with sauce and cranberries.

Three hours later, a mishap happened to Jim Lovell. When he aligned the command module for regular position determination by means of a sextant, he accidentally deleted part of the on-board computer memory. Due to the missing reference data, he assumed that the spaceship was back on the launch pad and aligned it accordingly with control thrusts. But Lovell managed to align the spaceship correctly again by manually aiming for a few fixed stars and reprogramming the computer. By the afternoon of December 26th, around 2:51 p.m. (EST) (ship time: 127: 00), the spaceship had covered half the distance between the moon and earth; the speed was 6400 km per hour and continued to increase. An hour later, at 3:52 p.m. (EST), the sixth and final television broadcast from the ship started. The crew of Apollo 8 showed the audience the earth from a distance of about 180,000 km and described their impressions of the ever-growing home planet. At the end of the four-minute broadcast, Commander Borman thanked the audience for their keen interest.

In the hours that followed, both the crew on board the spaceship and ground control prepared for re-entry the next morning. The salvage fleet around the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown ran into the sea area around 1000 km south of Hawaii, where the command module was expected to splash down the next morning.

Re-entry, ditching and salvage

Apollo 8 during re-entry, captured from a KC-135A at an altitude of 12 km

On the morning of the seventh day of flight, on December 27 at around 9 (EST), the crew began to buckle up in their seats and prepare for re-entry after all loose items had been stowed on board. At board time: 146: 27, the crew received permission to arm the explosive charges that are supposed to separate the command module from the service module. The separation took place five minutes later at an altitude of 2985 km and at 32,900 km / h. The command module was now only supplied by batteries and internal oxygen tanks, which supplied the crew during the descent. Should the spaceship hit at too shallow an angle and be thrown back into space, the supplies would not be sufficient for the survival of the three astronauts.

14 minutes after the separation, the command module hit the uppermost layers of the atmosphere at an altitude of 122 km; the speed was 39,200 km / h (11 km per second). In the following minutes the temperature of the heat shield rose to up to 2800 ° C. Apollo 8 reached maximum braking deceleration two minutes after entering the atmosphere; it was 6.8 g . At this point in time, the flight path of the capsule increased from 57 km to 64 km, due to the higher lift in the denser layers of air. This flight profile reduced the maximum load on the astronauts.

The re-entry of the spaceship was photographed by a US Air Force KC-135, and two PanAm line planes , which were over the Pacific at the time, were able to follow the comet-like tail in the sky.

The crew of Apollo 8 leave the rescue helicopter

Four minutes after the start of the blackout, which was caused by the ionized gases, flight control was able to establish contact with the spaceship again. At a height of 7 km (on-board time: 146: 56) the stabilization screen opened, which slowed down and stabilized the command module. A minute later, after the speed dropped below Mach 1 , the stabilization screen was released and the three main screens were deployed. Two minutes later, the crews of the rescue ships and the rescue helicopter spotted the flashing light on the tip of the capsule, which was slowly sinking. At 5:51 am (local time) (board time: 147: 00) , Apollo 8 splashed down in the Pacific ( 8 ° 6 ′ 0 ″  N , 165 ° 1 ′ 0 ″  W ). The waves and the parachutes, which were dropped a fraction of a second too late, knocked the capsule over so that it floated tip down in the water. However, the automatic erection system, consisting of three compressed air-filled balloons at the top, erected the capsule again within three minutes. Nine minutes after the splashdown, a helicopter dropped the first combat swimmers at the command module. Since the spaceship was in the dark, about an hour before sunrise, the recovery was waited until after sunrise.

Two hours after the dive, Jim Lovell opened the command module hatch and got out. He is followed by Commander Borman and LM pilot Anders, who, like Lovell , were hoisted on board a waiting SH-3 helicopter ( Helicopter 66 ). Forty minutes later, at 7:44 am local time (12:44 pm EST), the three astronauts entered the deck of Yorktown , where they were greeted by the captain. After an extensive dinner on board the aircraft carrier, the three astronauts were first flown to Honolulu , where they were enthusiastically received. When they arrived at Ellington Airport south of Houston on the night of December 28th, they were greeted enthusiastically by thousands of onlookers.

On January 10, 1969, the three astronauts were greeted and cheered by tens of thousands of onlookers on Broadway in New York City with a confetti parade .

Whereabouts of the spacecraft

The Apollo 8 command module is on display , along with equipment from the flight, in the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry .

Historical meaning

Although not included in the original flight plan for the Apollo program, the Apollo 8 mission was a complete success for NASA and the American space program. The historical meaning of the departure to another celestial body is compared with the departure of Christopher Columbus to America. After the escalation of the Vietnam War , the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy , the student and race riots, the successful flight of Apollo 8 was a positive conclusion to the year 1968 for America. This becomes clear in a congratulatory telegram that Commander Borman received after completing the flight: “ Thank you Apollo 8. You saved 1968. ” (German : “ Thank you Apollo 8. You saved the year 1968. ”) The editors of Time magazine elected the three astronauts to the Men of the Year 1968 , the most important personalities of the year.

Apollo 8 was also of great importance for NASA and the American moon flight program. No space flight had previously been more than 1,500 km from the surface of the earth. The flight to the moon was an important step in the Apollo 11 moon landing six months later. For the Soviet lunar program, however, Apollo 8 was a major setback - it was drastically cut and slashed in the period that followed. After the successful landing of Apollo 11, the Soviet Union then abandoned all plans to send cosmonauts to the moon.

United States Postal Service stamp from 1969

The reading from the story of creation in the lunar orbit was seen by around one billion people worldwide, a total of around 1200 journalists were present in the flight control center during the entire flight, reporting around the clock around the world. The lunar orbit transmission received an Emmy from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in New York . The atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair protested the reading; in August 1969, she filed a lawsuit in the United States Supreme Court seeking to prohibit astronauts as government employees from praying in space. The lawsuit was dismissed, but from now on NASA withheld its astronauts from practicing religiosity in space. When Edwin Aldrin celebrated Holy Communion on the moon after landing on the moon on July 20, 1969 , he did so in secret; only years later did the public find out about it.

The picture that Bill Anders took of the earth rising above the lunar horizon was chosen by the US Postal Service as a motif for a stamp in 1969, the first four words of the creation story "In the beginning God ..." were chosen as the caption. The picture, one of the most famous of the 20th century, is also considered to be the trigger for the first environmental protection movements, as people were shown for the first time and became aware of how small and fragile the earth is. In 1970 the first earth day was celebrated.

Trivia

The British musician Mike Oldfield used the reading from The Creation Story in Orbit by William Anders in 1994 for the title In the Beginning , which forms the introduction to the album The Songs of Distant Earth . Excerpts from this reading of the creation story can also be heard in the title Genesis by the Anglo-Irish music group VNV Nation . Fragments of communication were also used in the title High Roller by the American duo The Crystal Method .

Additional information

literature

  • Jesco von Puttkamer : Apollo 8, departure into space . Heyne-Verlag, Munich, 1969.
  • Robert Zimmermann: Genesis. The Story of Apollo 8 . Four Walls Eight Windows, New York City, 2001, ISBN 1-56858-118-1 .
  • Robert Godwin: Apollo 8: The NASA Mission Reports . Apogee Books, Burlington, 2000 ISBN 978-1-896522-66-1 .

Web links

Commons : Apollo 8  album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Zimmermann: Genesis. The Story of Apollo 8 . P. 185.
  2. ↑ a b Zimmermann: Genesis. The Story of Apollo 8 . P. 187.
  3. ↑ Zimmermann: Genesis. The Story of Apollo 8 . P. 188.
  4. ↑ a b Nasa History, Apollo 8 Summary (accessed December 2, 2018).
  5. ↑ a b The Apollo 8 decision , as of February 5, 2008.
  6. ↑ Zimmermann: Genesis. The Story of Apollo 8 . P. 174.
  7. ^ List of crews, support crews and CapComs for manned Apollo flights , accessed on September 15, 2016.
  8. ↑ David Woods and Frank O'Brian: The Apollo 8 Flight Journal . , NASA History Division, accessed December 2, 2018.
  9. ↑ APPENDIX H - SATURN AT THE CAPE , as of February 3, 2008.
  10. ↑ a b c Apollo Flight Journal: Day 1: Launch and Ascent to Earth Orbit , accessed April 26, 2017.
  11. ↑ von Puttkamer: Apollo 8, departure into space . Pp. 12-13.
  12. ↑ von Puttkamer: Apollo 8, departure into space . Pp. 17-19.
  13. ^ David Woods and Frank O'Brien: The Apollo 8 Flight Journal. NASA History Division, May 5, 2009, p. ∞ , accessed September 14, 2016 (American English, detailed log with on-board time information).
  14. ↑ von Puttkamer: Apollo 8, departure into space . P. 25.
  15. ↑ Zimmermann: Genesis. The Story of Apollo 8 . P. 54.
  16. ↑ a b Apollo 8 Flight Journal: Day 1: Earth Orbit and Translunar Injection , accessed April 26, 2017.
  17. ↑ Apollo 8 Flight Journal: Day 1: The Green Team and Separation , accessed April 26, 2017.
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  19. ↑ Zimmermann: Genesis. The Story of Apollo 8 . P. 57.
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  21. ↑ von Puttkamer: Apollo 8, departure into space . P. 48.
  22. ↑ Apollo 8 Flight Journal: Day 2: The Maroon Team , accessed April 26, 2017.
  23. ↑ a b c Apollo 8 Flight Journal: Day 3: The Green Team , accessed April 26, 2017.
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  28. ^ A b Apollo 8 Flight Journal: Day 3: The Black Team - Approaching the Moon , accessed April 26, 2017.
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  35. ↑ von Puttkamer: Apollo 8, departure into space . Pp. 82-83.
  36. ↑ Apollo 8 Flight Journal: Day 4: Lunar Orbits 7 , as of February 10, 2008.
  37. ↑ a b c d e f Apollo 8 Flight Journal: Day 4: Lunar Orbit 9 , accessed March 25, 2018.
  38. ↑ a b c von Puttkamer: Apollo 8, departure into space . P. 85.
  39. ↑ a b c von Puttkamer: Apollo 8, departure into space . Pp. 85-86.
  40. ↑ Apollo 8 Flight Journal: Day 4: Final Orbit and Trans-Earth Injection , as of February 11, 2008.
  41. ↑ von Puttkamer: Apollo 8, departure into space . P. 89.
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  43. ↑ von Puttkamer: Apollo 8, departure into space . P. 91.
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  45. ↑ Zimmermann: Genesis. The Story of Apollo 8 . P. 223.
  46. ↑ von Puttkamer: Apollo 8, departure into space . Pp. 99-100.
  47. ↑ von Puttkamer: Apollo 8, departure into space . P. 108.
  48. ↑ von Puttkamer: Apollo 8, departure into space . P. 111.
  49. ↑ von Puttkamer: Apollo 8, departure into space . P. 112.
  50. ↑ Zimmermann: Genesis. The Story of Apollo 8 . P. 234.
  51. ^ Scientific American: Apollo 8: Flying into Space History during a Moment of Public Enthusiasm , as of April 17, 2009.
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  53. ↑ von Puttkamer: Apollo 8, departure into space . P. 30.
  54. ↑ The Guardian: These were the days that shook the world , as of February 12, 2008.
  55. ↑ Time magazine: Men of the year 1968 ( Memento of March 8, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), as of February 12, 2008.
  56. ↑ Zimmermann: Genesis. The Story of Apollo 8 . P. 237.
  57. ↑ von Puttkamer: Apollo 8, departure into space . P. 53.
  58. ↑ American Experience: Telecasts from Apollo 8 , as of April 17, 2009.
  59. ↑ Time Magazine, August 15, 1969 , as of February 12, 2008.
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This article was added to the list of excellent articles on February 22, 2008 in this version .