APOLLO 8: The INCREDIBLY AMBITIOUS First Flight To The Moon.. "I've Got The Moon..."

In 1961, John F. Kennedy proclaimed that we would go to the moon before the end of the decade. His proclamation was inspiring and powerful, but also gave NASA a deadline that would be extremely difficult to meet. America had only recently put the first men in space during Project Mercury. And the difference between entering space and successfully landing on the moon are massive. Space begins at about 73 miles above sea level and the world’s altitude record was a mere 850 miles, set by Gemini 11. The moon is 240,000 miles away from the Earth. In other words, at the time of JFK’s speech, we had made it about .003% of the way to the moon, which by the way, is a moving target that takes near perfect precision to successfully reach. A lunar landing was a task of such enormous complexity that it seemed nearly everything would have to go perfectly in order to accomplish the feat in such a short amount of time.

Of course, everything did not go perfectly. There were multiple delays before testing the Saturn V rocket, the launch vehicle that would propel the astronauts beyond Low Earth orbit. Then, in January of 1967, during a launch pad test, three astronauts – Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee - were killed in a fire. NASA had only three years left to make it to the moon when the Apollo 1 tragedy struck. At this point in time, the odds had to seem – no pun intended – astronomical. However, despite the shock within the community, no one was ready to give up. The causes of the fire were investigated, thousands of potential defects were identified, and a new redesigned, fireproof Block II command module was built.

By late 1967, the uncrewed Apollo 4 flight was ready for launch. It would be the first uncrewed test flight for the Saturn V rocket. After multiple delays caused by computer problems and equipment failures, it finally happened – Apollo 4 launched on November 9th at 7 AM Eastern Standard Time. The mission was an overall success and the spacecraft performed well. President Lyndon Johnson proclaimed

“The whole world could see the awesome sight of the first launch of what is now the largest rocket ever flown. This launching symbolizes the power this nation is harnessing for the peaceful exploration of space."

Next was Apollo 5, the first uncrewed test flight for the Apollo Lunar Module, AKA the lm, which was the spacecraft created to ferry astronauts from lunar orbit to the lunar surface and back again. Despite multiple setbacks and delays, Apollo 5 eventually launched and was considered a success – so much so that a second unmanned test flight of the lem was cancelled.

By the Summer on 1968, the deadline was looming close and the nation was in a chaotic time. An unpopular war raged on it Vietnam, riots took place in the streets, and two heroic public figures – Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy – had been assassinated. Meanwhile, the second unmanned test of the Saturn V rocket, Apollo 6, did not go as smoothly as the previous two launches. In fact, it was nearly a complete disaster.

For the first two minutes, everything seemed normal. Then, the booster began to vibrate abnormally and two of the engines shut down prematurely. Seconds later, a third engine failed as well. Fortunately, the spacecraft’s instrument unit was able to compensate for the failures, burning the remaining engines longer and the flight was considered an overall success. Nevertheless, time was quickly running out.

Apollo 7 was on schedule to be the first manned flight of Project Apollo, but progress on the Lunar Module, which was planned to make its manned debut on Apollo 8, was concerning. Quality control found 100 separate defects on the LM. If Apollo 8 was delayed, the end of the decade goal of landing on the moon would become as unlikely as ever. Then, Senior NASA Official George Low came up with a bold idea. If everything went well with Apollo 7, why not send Apollo 8 all the way to the moon, even if the LM is not ready? They wouldn’t need the LM to go into lunar orbit and practice executing a complete mission to the moon and back. This plan was beyond ambitious, as they hadn’t even launched a manned Apollo mission yet and were already planning to go all the way to the moon – without the LM, which, aside from transporting the astronauts to the surface moon, could also be used as an important safety device and additional shelter in case something happened to the command module, which is exactly what would happen years later with Apollo 13.

Low wanted to send Apollo 8 to the moon by December of 1968. Chris Kraft, director of Flight Operations, decided that it would be barely feasible – but feasible nonetheless. Assuming everything went well for Apollo 7, the goals of Apollo 8 would pivot and instead of a manned test flight of the LM, Apollo 8’s goal would be to orbit the Moon.

Astronaut Jim McDivitt was originally scheduled to command Apollo 8 and had been preparing for the mission of testing the LM. He was told about the plan to change the mission and offered a chance to go to the moon. McDivitt turned down the opportunity, preferring to stick with the mission he was already assigned. Therefore, Frank Borman, who was scheduled to command Apollo 9, was given the opportunity and he jumped at it, swapping places with McDivitt. Now, Frank Borman was in line to command Apollo 8. He informed his crewmate, Jim Lovell, who was thrilled with the news – literally over the moon. The third member of the Apollo 8 Crew would be Bill Anders, who felt disappointment over the news, because losing the lunar module meant that although he was going to the moon, he would probably never get to walk on it.

The mission was slated to begin on December 21st, 1968. The three astronauts would orbit the Earth twice, during which time the slightest failure or concern from mission control could result in a cancellation of the lunar mission. Assuming everything checks out, however, the flight would re-light the Saturn V rocket and head towards the moon. After that point, three humans would enter uncharted territory without a lifeboat. The good news was that by aiming at just the right spot, Apollo 8 would fly along a figure 8 shape around the moon on a free return path, meaning that the moon’s gravity would do the work for the astronauts, assuming the trajectory specialists did their job correctly. Of course, one mistake in calculation, an error in measurement, or a technical malfunction – things that could easily occur during a first time attempt - could send the crew off into space with no way to get back home.

As preparation and training occurred, the mission was kept a secret. Not even the other astronauts knew what was planned for Apollo 8. Meanwhile, the Soviets successfully launched Zond 5, an unmanned flight that flew a figure 8 around the moon under automatic control and splashed down into the ocean. Two Russian tortoises successfully orbited to the moon and returned home alive. The Russians decided to prank the USA by having three cosmonauts speak over the transmitter as if they were at the moon, preparing to approach the surface, knowing the CIA would intercept the transmission. One American astronaut exclaimed later, “It shocked the hell out of us!” Although the Russians had not actually sent humans to the moon yet, this lit a fire under NASA and the sense of urgency was at an all-time high.

Still, everything depended on the success of Apollo 7. Any major issues during the flight would delay Apollo 8 and almost certainly doom any chance of walking on the moon before the end of the decade. The Crew for Apollo 7 consisted of Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele and Walt Cunningham. The mission involved extensive tests of the Command Module and was an overwhelming success. The main issue of the flight turned out to be the attitude of commander Wally Schirra, who was angry from the beginning, when the mission went ahead with the launch despite weather conditions in violation of safety rules. Later, he caught a cold and butted heads with the flight controllers during the entire mission. Still, the mission was a success and included the first live television broadcast aboard a crewed American spacecraft. Apollo 8 was a go.

Frank Borman and NASA officials had decided that the mission would involve going to the moon – making 10 orbits – and returning home. It took some compromise as NASA wanted more orbits, but Borman, for obvious reasons, wanted to do the minimum possible in order to minimize the chances of something going wrong.

As December 21st, 1968 arrived, everything remained on schedule. Everything was a go. Apollo 8 launched with violent perfection, speeding out of the atmosphere with no major issues. Once it reached Earth orbit, the crew and flight controllers would take some time to ensure everything was a go before re-ignition. That amount of time would be 2 ½ hours. Somewhat surprisingly, everything checked out. Finally, word came from Houston – “Apollo 8 – you are Go for TLI.” - Trans-lunar injection.

Jim Lovell pushed a button that said “PROCEED,” and the rocket ignited, sending the crew out of Earth’s orbit at up to speeds over 24,000 miles per hour towards the moon. Before long, the crew could see their home planet in full through the window. For Bill Anders, this was his first experience in zero gravity – an experience that he enjoyed at first, floating and tumbling around completely weightless. Then, it began to make him feel sick. As fun as it sounds, weightlessness can cause queasiness, not to mention the disruption of several body systems, including the proprioceptive system, which provides us with a sense of body awareness. Some astronauts reported losing complete sense of the existence of their limbs. Overall, however, the astronauts reported mostly positive experiences with zero g.

Everything was going smooth with Apollo 8 mechanically, but there was another issue – Frank Borman woke up from a nap feeling ill, possibly motion sickness, a reaction to a sleeping pill he took, or the 24-hour flu, as he suspected. Dealing with a person feeling ill in a contained zero g environment is infinitely worse than it would be on Earth. When Borman vomited, the vomit didn’t fall to the ground, rather it became a greenish blob that floated around, splitting into different blobs of their own. The stench was so bad that Anders put on the oxygen mask meant for emergency situations only. It only got worse from there when Borman got diarreah and now even more terrifying blobs were floating around as well. Going above and beyond the call of duty, the crew were able to clean up the mess.

Everything was running like clockwork, and the crew barely had to do anything other than flip a switch here and there when the request came in from Houston. Of course, there were contingency plans and if needed, the astronauts had the skills to take over for the computers. Borman recovered fairly quickly and was feeling better, but the episode caused Houston to consider pulling the plug on the mission. Borman convinced them to let the mission continue. As Apollo 8 pulled away from Earth, Earth continued to try pulling it back. Eventually, however, on December 23rd, the spacecraft would finally escape Earth’s gravity, and the Moon would be the one pulling them in. The 3 astronauts became the first humans to enter the gravitational influence of a celestial body other than Earth. However, for them, everything outside was completely black. In fact, due to the sun’s glare and the angle they approached it, they hadn’t yet seen the moon at all.

Even as they approached the moon, there was nothing to see. Then, the time came for the spacecraft to travel behind the moon, at which point they would lose all radio contact with Earth. This period was called LOS – Loss of Signal. The last transmission before entering LOS came from Jim Lovell – “We’ll see you on the other side.” Shortly thereafter, as Borman and Anders were going through a checklist, preparing to ignite the engine, Lovell said, “Hey… I got the moon.” For the first time, they could see the moon, but had no time to marvel at it. “Alright, alright, come on,” said Borman, keeping the astronauts focused on the task at hand – preparing for a critical burn which would put them into lunar orbit. If the burn did not go perfectly, they could either be flung out into space with no way to get home or crash into the moon. Borman said, “you’re going to look at that for a long time,” referring to the 20 hour period they would be rotating around the moon. Lovell hit the “proceed” button to activate the burn just at the right time, and the most critical 4 minutes of the entire journey passed without a hitch. “Longest four minutes I ever spent,” said Lovell afterwards.

Finally, as Apollo 8 drifted above the moon, the three Earthlings were able to look. With no atmosphere in the way and no glare from the sun, the view was now strikingly clear. It was a sea of craters. It reminded Anders of a big beach, perhaps an ancient one undisturbed for thousands of years. As Lovell and Anders described what they saw, Borman continued to focus on the engine and the plans for the next orbit. He told Houston to give him to go-ahead on another orbit or he would start heading home. Borman would request a “go, no-go” for each orbit. Now that they had reached the moon, he was concentrating on the primary objective getting every one back home safely. Anders was snapping photographs of the moon, but became disappointed at the uninspiring dreary surface – just crater after crater. The landscape certainly wasn’t as dramatic as it was portrayed in movies like 2001: A Space Odysssey. What impressed him even more than moon, however, was his own home, which came into view beyond the horizon, a gorgeous deep blue and white half-circle in a completely black sky. They traveled 240,000 miles to explore the moon and the most awesome sight they saw was the Earth.

Apollo 8 passed over the Sea of Tranquility, and studied possible landing spots for a mission hopefully in the very-near future. Despite the thrill the crew must have experienced upon becoming the first human beings to visit the moon, the day was becoming long after 15 hours in orbit. The crew was becoming tired and Borman ordered Lovell and Anders to take a two hour nap, which they did after arguing against it. After their nap, on Christmas Eve, the crew shot their second broadcast of the flight, this time from the moon, with each Astronaut reading a section from the Book of Genesis. So far, the mission had been an absolute overwhelming success. All they had to do now was get back home. And as long as the trajectory specialists did their job, the crew could just relax on the ride home. On Christmas Day, the crew made a final broadcast and discovered a turkey dinner in the Apollo 8 Foot Locker, a wetpack meal that the military developed, which ended up being the best meal of the mission.

The trip home was the best thing it could possibly be – boring and uneventful. The only challenge left was re-entry, which would hopefully be performed by the computer. In the event of a failure, Borman would take over. It wasn’t necessary, as the computer performed its job perfectly, Earth took a hold of the command module and pulled it back home at a speed that would reach 25,000 miles per hour, engulfing it in flames that would reach 5000 degrees. The astronauts could only survive due to the heat shield. Everything worked perfectly, including the opening of the parachutes.

At the beginning of 1968, the odds did not look promising for the United States to put a man on the moon before the end of the decade. Progress was slow and problems were plentiful. Everything had to go right on Apollo 7 just for Apollo 8 to attempt its planned mission to the moon. Then, everything had to go right on Apollo 8 – and basically everything did. For the first time since JFK made set his ambitious goal for the country, it actually seemed possible. However, there was still a lot to accomplish – and very little time to do so. After only two manned Apollo flights, NASA believed they needed only two more preparatory missions before an attempt at a lunar landing, sometime in 1969.