EARTHRISE:
Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon, entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, 1968. That evening, the astronauts-Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders-held a live broadcast from lunar orbit, in which they showed pictures of the Earth and moon as seen from their spacecraft. Said Lovell, "The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth." They ended the broadcast with the crew taking turns reading from the book of Genesis.
While it will always be a bridesmaid thanks to Apollo 11, here's a few things to say about Apollo 8:
The first time humans had left the planet Earth.
The first time a human saw the whole planet Earth from space.
The first time humans had not experienced a night, with sunrises and sunsets.
The first time humans were exposed to raw solar radiation beyond the Earth’s magnetic field.
The first time astronauts had experienced the full 3.4 million kilogram thrust of the big Saturn V rocket.
The first time humans had entered another gravitational field.
The first time humans orbited the Moon.
The first time humans had occulted behind the Moon.
The first to see the backside of the Moon.
The first to see Earthrise at the Moon.
The first to reenter into the Earth’s atmosphere from the Moon.
The first to travel so far and so fast.
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