Dec 21 1968
From The Space Library
December 21-27: NASA's Apollo 8 (AS-503), second manned mission in Apollo lunar landing program and first manned mission to orbit moon, was successfully launched from KSC Launch Complex 39 at 7:51 am EST by Saturn V booster. Primary objectives were to demonstrate crew, space vehicle, and mission support performance during manned Saturn V mission with command and service module (csM) and to demonstrate performance of nominal and selected backup lunar orbit rendezvous (LOR) mission activities-including translunar injection; CSM navigation, communications, and midcourse corrections; and CSM consumables assessment and passive thermal control. All launch events occurred as planned and spacecraft-carrying Astronauts Frank Borman (commander), James A. Lovell, Jr. (CM pilot), and Willam A. Anders (LM pilot)-entered initial orbit with 118.4-mi (190.6-kin) apogee, 113.8-mi (183.2-km) perigee, 32.51° inclination, and 88.2-min period. At 10:42 am EST 3rd stage burned for second time, injecting spacecraft into lunar trajectory, and astronauts began journey to become first men to leave earth's gravitational field. Stage and instrument unit separated as planned and service module propulsion system was fired to increase separation distance from 3rd stage, which was trailing 500-1,000 ft behind spacecraft, spewing unused propellants. Crew fired service propulsion system (SPS) engine for 2.4 sec, correcting trajectory and increasing velocity by 25 fps. Second midcourse maneuver, scheduled for second day, was canceled because trajectory was already so accurate that burn would have required velocity change of only 0.7 fps. Borman reported illness, apparently from 24-hr intestinal virus or from reaction to sleeping pills being used during space flight for first time, and Lovell and Anders reported nausea. Crew took navigation sightings and conducted first TV transmission, showing spacecraft interior and earth from 138,690-mi altitude and demonstrating food preparation and movements in weightlessness. Signals were received at ground stations and transmitted to NASA Mission Control Center in Houston before release live to commercial networks. Second TV transmission, on third day, showed excellent pictures of earth from 201,365-mi altitude, including view of Western Hemisphere in sunlight. Crew pointed out North Pole, South America, Cape Horn, and Baja California and noted that U.S. East Coast was very cloudy. Earth, they said, was beautiful; water looked royal blue, land areas brown, and clouds bright white. Reflection off earth was much greater than off moon. SM reaction control system's four rockets were fired for 12 sec to reduce velocity by 2 fps and to make approach to moon closer to 60 mi at nearest point. On fourth day, Christmas Eve, communications were interrupted as Apollo 8 passed behind moon and astronauts became first men to see moon's far side. SPS engine was fired for 4 min 2 sec, reducing speed by 2,994 fps and placing spacecraft in lunar orbit with 193.6-mi (310.6-km) apolune and 69.1-mi (111.2-km) perilune. In third telecast Anders described lunar surface as "whitish gray, like dirty beach sand with lots of footprints on it. Some of these craters look like pick-axes striking concrete, creating a lot of fine dust." After spacecraft passed behind moon at end of second revolution, SPS engine burned for 10 sec to reduce speed by 135 fps and to circularize orbit with 70.0-mi (112.6-km) apolune and 69.6-mi (112.0-km) perilune. Lovell said astronauts had "a grand view" of the lunar surface and confirmed that prospective landing sites were satisfactory. He reported that at about two minutes before sunrise a fan-shaped white haze appeared just behind moon's limb. Crew continued landmark sightings and named numerous unnamed lunar features after other astronauts, NASA officials, and friends. They conducted communications experiment which showed that radio signal from earth to Apollo 8 and back to earth took three seconds to make 460,000-mi round trip. Third TV transmission during ninth revolution showed heavily impacted mountains described by Anders as "a vastness of black and white, absolutely no color. The sky up here is also rather forbidding, foreboding extents of blackness with no stars visible when we're flying over the moon in daylight. You can see by the numerous craters that this planet has been bombarded through the eons with numerous small asteroids and meteoroids, pock-marking the surface of every square inch. And one of the amazing features of the surface is . . . that most of the craters . . . have a round mound type of appearance instead of sharp jagged rocks. All, only the newest of features have any sharp definitions to them, and eventually they get eroded down by the constant bombardment of small meteoroids." The moon is "a very dark and unappetizing place. . . Crew read verses from first chapter of Genesis and wished viewers "good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas and God bless all of you-all of you on the good earth." On fifth day, Christmas Day, while spacecraft was behind moon completing its 10th revolution, SPS engine was fired for 3 min 23 sec, increasing spacecraft velocity by 3,523 fps and propelling Apollo 8 back toward earth. Spacecraft left lunar gravity at 201,807 mi above earth. At 104 hours mission elapsed time 14-sec reaction-control-system burn increased velocity by 5 fps. Fifth TV transmission showed spacecraft interior, controls, and food preparation. Data analysis revealed sixth midcourse correction would not be necessary because of accuracy of course. Astronauts reported they had slept well and were in "very good shape." Sixth TV transmission showed earth from 112,125-mi altitude.
December 21-27: NASA's Apollo 8 carried Astronauts James A. Lovell, Jr., William A. Anders, and Frank Borman (left to right above) out of earth's field of gravity and into man's first orbit of moon. In photo at right, Saturn V lifts oft from KSC launch complex 39 to put command and service module into initial orbit.' On sixth day crew prepared for reentry and SM separated from CM on schedule. Parachute deployment and other reentry events were nominal and Apollo 8 splashed, apex down, in Pacific about 5,100 yd from recovery ship U.S.S. Yorktown at 10:51 am EST Dcc. 27, 147 hr after launch and precisely on time. According to prior planning, helicopters and aircraft hovered over spacecraft and pararescue personnnel were not deployed until local sunrise, 50 min after splashdown. Crew was then picked up and reached recovery ship at 12:20 pm EST. All primary Apollo 8 mission objectives and detailed test objectives were achieved and, in addition, five not originally planned. All launch vehicle and spacecraft systems performed according to plan. Engineering accomplishments included use of ground network with onboard navigational techniques to sharpen accuracy of lunar orbit determination and successful use of Apollo high-gain antenna, four-dish unified S-band antenna that deployed from SM after separation from 3rd stage. Mission proved capability of Apollo CSM and crew, as well as ground support and control systems, to operate out to lunar distances and return through the earth's atmosphere at lunar velocity. Apollo 8 was fifth Apollo mission to date, second manned Apollo mission, first manned mission on Saturn V launch vehicle, and first manned operation of Apollo system under conditions for which it was designed. Earlier unmanned Apollo flights had yielded all spacecraft information possible without crew on board. Apollo 4 (launched Nov. 9, 1967) and Apollo 5 (launched Jan. 22, 1968) had both been highly successful, completing inflight tests of all major pieces of Apollo hardware. Apollo 6 (launched April 4), despite launch vehicle problems, had attained four of five primary objectives with the spacecraft recovered in excellent condition. First manned Apollo mission, Apollo 7 Oct. 11-22, had achieved all primary objectives and had verified opera-
December 21-27: Rising earth, 240,000 miles away, greets Apollo 8 astronauts as they come from behind moon after lunar orbit insertion burn. tion of spacecraft for lunar-mission duration. Apollo program was directed by NASA Office of Manned Space Flight; MSC was responsible for Apollo spacecraft development, MSFC for Saturn V launch vehicle, and KSC for launch operations. Tracking and data acquisition was managed by GSFC under overall direction of NASA Office of Tracking and Data Acquisition. (NASA Proj Off; NASA Release 68-208; NASA Special Releases; W Star, 12/21/68, Al; W Post, 12/21-28/68, Al; NYT, 12/21-28/68, 1; B Sun, 12/21-28/68, Al; MSC Roundup, 1/10/69, 3)
December 21: President Johnson sent congratulatory message to Apollo 8 astronauts: "I am confident that the world's finest equipment will strive to match the courage of our astronauts. If it does that, a successful mission is assured." (PD, 12/30/68, 1738)
Apollo Program Director, B/G Samuel C. Phillips, told post-launch press conference at KSC early portion of Apollo 8 mission had been perfect: .. Apollo 8 is now on its way to the Moon. And . . . I certainly envy the crew the magnificent views that they might have at this point as they were describing it to us. . . . To be able to see the entire earth. I think by this time in their flight, they are something over 10,000 miles high and moving at about 25,000 miles an hour. . . . The countdown . . . was-during most of the night actually a hit, and even into the late minutes of this morning, the count was proceeding with comfortable margins of time. The flight of the Saturn V was flawless in all of the maneuvers it was expected to make. The performance of the spacecraft . . . has similarly been flawless." (Transcript)
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