Apollo 8 and Earthrise

The words

1. Apollo Eight

   Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders entered lunar orbit on December 24, 1968. They became the first people to circle the Moon and examined possible sites for later Apollo landings.

   NASA: Apollo 8 in lunar orbit (opens a new tab)

2. Bill Anders

   Anders photographed Earthrise in black and white, then asked Lovell for color film. His color photographs captured Earth above the gray lunar horizon.

   NASA: reconstructing Earthrise (opens a new tab) · NASA: Apollo 8 in lunar orbit (opens a new tab)

3. Book of Genesis

   Each Apollo 8 astronaut read part of the first ten verses of Genesis during the Christmas Eve broadcast. The Bible’s opening creation account closed a program showing Earth and the Moon.

   Genesis 1:1–10 · NASA: Apollo 8 in lunar orbit (opens a new tab) · NASA: Apollo 8’s crew and mission (opens a new tab)

4. Borman

   Commander Frank Borman occupied Apollo 8’s left-hand seat. His planned spacecraft turn brought Earth into Anders’ side window during the fourth lunar orbit.

   NASA: reconstructing Earthrise (opens a new tab)

5. Christmas Eve

   Apollo 8 began its ninth lunar orbit with a television broadcast on December 24, 1968. The crew showed Earth and the Moon, described the terrain and closed with Christmas greetings.

   NASA: Apollo 8 in lunar orbit (opens a new tab)

6. Earthrise

   Earth appeared to rise because Apollo 8 was moving around the Moon. The color photograph set our blue-and-white planet against a gray lunar horizon.

   NASA: reconstructing Earthrise (opens a new tab)

7. Eight Homeward

   The crater officially named 8 Homeward appears in the Earthrise photograph. Its name, adopted in 2018, commemorated Apollo 8’s safe return to Earth.

   USGS/IAU: 8 Homeward (opens a new tab)

8. George Low

   Delays to the lunar module threatened Apollo’s schedule. In August 1968, George Low proposed sending Apollo 8 to lunar orbit without the lander, replacing the planned Earth-orbit test.

   NASA: changing Apollo 8’s plan (opens a new tab)

9. Lovell

   Jim Lovell, Apollo 8’s command module pilot, prepared to sight lunar landmarks with a sextant. He was working in the lower equipment bay when Earthrise appeared.

   NASA: Apollo 8’s crew and mission (opens a new tab) · NASA: reconstructing Earthrise (opens a new tab)

10. Men of the Year

    Time magazine chose Anders, Borman and Lovell as its Men of the Year for 1968. The honor marked their journey around the Moon and return to Earth.

    TIME: Apollo 8’s Men of the Year (opens a new tab)

11. Mount Marilyn

    Jim Lovell named Mount Marilyn after his wife. The triangular mountain became a navigation landmark for Apollo 11’s approach to the first crewed lunar landing.

    Did you know?

    The International Astronomical Union formally adopted Mount Marilyn on July 26, 2017, nearly half a century after Lovell’s Apollo 8 flight.

    LROC: Lovell’s Mount Marilyn (opens a new tab) · USGS/IAU: Mount Marilyn’s name (opens a new tab)

12. Telephoto Lens

    A camera lens that makes distant subjects appear larger.

    Anders used a telephoto lens on his handheld Hasselblad for Earthrise. Another Hasselblad, mounted at Borman’s window, photographed the Moon automatically at regular intervals.

    Did you know?

    NASA later matched the automatic camera’s timed photographs with Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter maps to reconstruct Apollo 8’s position and orientation during Earthrise.

    NASA: reconstructing Earthrise (opens a new tab)

13. Ten Orbits

    The crew circled the Moon ten times over about twenty hours. Their work included photography, tracking landmarks and examining possible landing sites before the engine firing that sent them home.

    NASA: Apollo 8’s crew and mission (opens a new tab)

14. USS Yorktown

    USS Yorktown was Apollo 8’s recovery carrier in the Pacific. After the December 27, 1968 splashdown, rescuers waited for local sunrise before bringing the astronauts aboard.

    NASA: Apollo 8’s crew and mission (opens a new tab)

15. Zond

    During 1968, Soviet Zond probes tested flights around the Moon without people. Zond 5 returned to Earth; Zond 6 lost cabin pressure, killing its animal passengers, and crashed.

    Smithsonian: Apollo 8 and Soviet plans (opens a new tab)