NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection

Earthrise

In December of 1968, the Apollo 8 [ http://www.lpi.usra…] crew flew from the Earth to the Moon [ http://jv.gilead.or…] and back again. Frank Borman [ http://www.jsc.nasa…borman-f.html ], James Lovell [ http://www.jsc.nasa…lovell-ja.html ], and William Anders [ http://www.jsc.nasa…anders-wa.html ] were launched atop a Saturn V rocket [ http://www.apollosa…] on December 21, circled the Moon ten times in their command module, and returned to Earth on December 27. The Apollo 8 [ http://nssdc.gsfc.n…MasterCatalog?sc=196 8-118A ] mission's impressive list of firsts includes: the first humans to journey to the Earth's Moon [ http://www.nineplan…], the first manned flight using the Saturn V [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], and the first to photograph [ http://www.lpi.usra…A08_Photography.html ] the Earth from deep space. As the Apollo 8 command module rounded the farside of the Moon, the crew could look toward the lunar horizon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] and see the Earth appear to rise, due to their spacecraft's orbital motion. The famous picture [ http://www.abc.net.…] that resulted, of a distant blue Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] above the Moon's limb, was a marvelous gift to the world.

Apollo 8 [ http://science.ksc.…apollo-8.html ], NASA [ http://www.nasa.gov…]

Frank Borman

William Anders

1968

Saturn

Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)

Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Earth

Moon

Saturn

Apollo 8

1968

http://antwrp.gsfc.…

SPD-APOD-ap051224