Explanation:
Forty years ago, in December of 1968, the
Apollo 8 crew flew from the
Earth to the
Moon and back again.
Frank Borman,
James Lovell, and
William Anders were launched atop a
Saturn
V rocket on December 21,
circled the Moon ten times in their command module,
and returned to Earth on December 27.
The Apollo 8 mission's impressive
list of firsts includes: the first humans to journey to the
Earth's Moon, the first to fly using the
Saturn V rocket,
and the first to photograph
the Earth from deep space.
As the Apollo 8 command module rounded the farside of the Moon,
the crew could look toward the
lunar horizon and see the Earth appear
to rise, due to their spacecraft's orbital motion.
Their
famous picture of a distant blue Earth
above the Moon's limb
was a marvelous gift to the world.
Note : APOD Editor to Speak in New York on Jan. 2
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