Apollo 8: Mankind’s Most Epic Journey

In December, 1968, NASA launched the first manned mission to the moon. No one, not even the astronauts on board, were certain that they’d return safely. Their journey, the “most hazardous and dangerous ever embarked upon”, took them to ... ...

[georgeterrill]

“Good night, good luck, a merry Christmas, and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth.” That line gets me every time. Thank God for all the people that made the impossible happen, and let’s get back to the moon and beyond soon.

[youyoo]

As of Dec 2019, all three that went there first are still with us.

[briansmith]

Frank Borman is one of the most unheralded, underrated heroes in history.

[thewatchman]

Brilliant, quite definitely simply Brilliant; real history and achievement so tragically missing from todays history teaching. Something every child should be taught.

[TheCream]

one of the single most wonderful moments in our life time.

[oldprankster]

Given the inherent danger of the mission, that so many systems had never been tested in low earth orbit, and the fact that no human being had ever left the gravity of the earth before, this endeavor is probably more significant than the lunar landing of Apollo 11. There was no lunar module, as it was not considered relevant, nor was it flight ready. Imagine if the crew had gotten the service module with the damaged coil of Apollo 13. Then there would be three dead astronauts forever lost in space. What a gutsy call by NASA and the crew. As one person said of the mission, " You saved 1968".

[AirborneAnt]

@8:30 EXCELLENT Point Frank, this was for ALL

[dlakoba]

this is brilliant
i was 5 and with my brothers we drew with crayons page after page of each stage of this flight... and so this became a tradition all through the Apollo missions. We still have some of these drawling

[claudetteking]

Saw this air last night, Christmas Eve and was so moved. What an incredibly well done segment. Many of us who weren't yet born or old enough to remember have never seen this or heard about the astronauts reciting from the book of Genesis on the broadcast back to earth. So beautiful and powerful. On this Christmas Eve, I include in my prayers a hope that America & the world will once again be aglow with reverence, respect and love for the word of God. 💒🎄🎄🎄💒 God bless and thank you for this amazing gift. Merry Christmas to you all 💒🎄🎄🎄

[angelmarte]

I was only one and a half year old when this took place! I do remember the lunar figures or Surprise figures on the "Craker Jack" sweet popcorn boxes my grandma used to buy when she would go to the groceries store to buy groceries between 1970 and Even though I've played baseball and football all the way to High School ...I've end up joining The United States Navy in October 1985 and Retired in October 2005 after twenty great years of Active Duty in Naval Aviation, where I've had the pleasure to work with The Best there was during my Naval Aviation GOD bless All of you...straight from my (AW/SW) Angel Marte....your brother in Arms from Carolina, Puerto

[brianchisnell]

68 was a tough time for this kid in the 4th grade. RFK, MLK, Viet Nam, riots. I remember it well. Apollo 8 was A BIG DEAL!!!

[Anonymous-yyur]

This had me at tears it was pure poetry beautiful.

[RVaviator]

As historically important Apollo 11 was, 8 was probably the most brave, adventurous and risky space launch EVER...! It was the first crewed orbit of the Moon, and there was 3 of them ...! No Luna Module to use as a lifeboat and its extra engine...! If the Service module engine didn't fire they were effed..! The reading of Genesis was lovely, it was an intent to convey to EVERY human the wonder and the ability of humankind to do wonderfull things.. Thanks for this post... Cheers and On to Mars...!

[kimberlyjones]

Heartfelt, touching and inspiring!!! God Bless You!!!

[donniementzer]

Christmas eve I was 15 christmas tree lit in the corner we a ll were glued to the color TV pictures from moon B&W we were in awh then they read genius EPIC it was epic chills ran up you all those family members are gone now with all that plus what went down that year apollo 8 made that christmas eve my favorite

[tommypetraglia]

Earthrise. I cry every time I see the story how it struck them with awe when suddenly it showd itself.

That poster hung on my bedroom wall from age 10 until I left home for college

[pauljackson]

Borman, Lovell, Anders, Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins, heroes all! Here's to you on Christmas Eve 2018.
50 years on, you continue to inspire mankind!

[reneeharris]

Watching this makes me deeply regret passing on space camp as a kid. I was watching another documentary on the Planet Classroom network channel. They were talking about how they weren't in orbit to take photos of the earth because we already "knew" about it, it was only supposed to be photos of the moon. I'm so glad they got that photo!

[bobcarlsson]

I wasn't tearing up at all....honest.

[whatsreal]

I was 6 years old and will never forget it! The astronauts and all who made it happen are heroes! An incredible time that will never happen again! Not like the landing by Apollo 11, nonetheless historic!