40th Anniversary of Apollo 8 Launch

Apollo 8 launched 40 years ago today. This was to be the first time humans would ever orbit the moon and laid the foundation for the Apollo 11 Landing in July 1969.

The patch of Apollo 8
The patch of Apollo 8

Believe it or not, Apollo 8 was also the most dangerous of the Apollo missions to the moon. All of the future missions took with them a lunar module (the spider bit that landed on the moon) while Apollo 8 simply took a test device of the same weight. During Apollo 13, the lunar module ended up being used as a life raft for power.

The astronauts of Apollo 8 achieved a speed of 10,822 metres per second (38,959 Km per hour) during their trip to the moon.

They also took the following legendary photo:

"Earthrise" Photographken by Bill Anders on December 24, 1968
Earthrise Photograph by Bill Anders on December 24, 1968

Lets home Obama doesn’t pull the plug on the moon visits planned for 2020.

More information on Apollo 8 is available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_8.

You May Also Like

About the Author: John

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *