Oddball
Unobtanium Member
Because the lunar lander wasn't ready for so much as test flights in space, the itinerary for Apollo 8 was hastily changed. Instead of docking and maneuvering tests for the lunar vehicle, a lunar orbital plan was thrown together.
The first time the 3rd stage S-IVB booster would be used to propel a crew out of Earths gravity. The first time the command module engine would be used to insert the craft into lunar orbit, and later bast it out for the return home. Space sickness. Concerns about radiation from the Van Allen radiation belts. All of these firsts and more would be accomplished by this historically underrated mission.
Apollo 8 Launched 1st Astronauts Around the Moon 50 Years Ago Today Despite Big Risks
The first time the 3rd stage S-IVB booster would be used to propel a crew out of Earths gravity. The first time the command module engine would be used to insert the craft into lunar orbit, and later bast it out for the return home. Space sickness. Concerns about radiation from the Van Allen radiation belts. All of these firsts and more would be accomplished by this historically underrated mission.
On Dec. 21, 1968, just before 5 a.m. local time, James Lovell, William Anders and Frank Borman had no way of knowing that when they piled into their capsule tucked atop a Saturn V rocket on a Florida launchpad. Three hours later, they would be on their way to space and to becoming the first three humans to fly around the moon.
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When the Apollo 8 mission was redesigned, no mission control room was ready, no trajectories had been calculated for a lunar flight, no astronauts had been trained for it and there was no procedure for fetching returning astronauts on landing, current NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine recounted in a new video released by the agency. The only engine the crew could rely on during flight for the multiple course-correction burns the path required had never re-ignited in flight. Apollo 8 would be Saturn V's first voyage with humans aboard, and only its third flight ever — and it failed during the second uncrewed flight.
Apollo 8 Launched 1st Astronauts Around the Moon 50 Years Ago Today Despite Big Risks
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