Mission Commander Frank
Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell, Lunar Module Pilot William
Anders
Apollo 8
Apollo 8
(launched Dec 21, 1968) was the first human spaceflight mission to escape
from the gravitational field of planet Earth; the first to be captured by and
escape from the gravitational field of another celestial body; and the first
crewed voyage to return to planet Earth from another celestial body - Earth's
Moon. The three-man crew of Mission Commander Frank Borman, Command Module
Pilot James Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders became the first
humans to see the far side of the Moon with their own eyes, as well as the
first humans to see planet Earth from beyond low Earth orbit. The mission was
accomplished with the first manned launch of a Saturn V rocket. Apollo 8 was
the second manned mission of the Apollo Program.
