Apollo 8

Forty years ago today, NASA launched Apollo 8 to the Moon. It was an extraordinary decision. The mission was only the second manned flight of the Apollo spacecraft, which was redesigned in important ways after the Apollo 1 fire that killed three astronauts. NASA still had a mandate to put a man on the Moon before the decade was out, however. so it made a bold decision that paid off.

A highlight of not only the space program but also of the tumultuous decade of the 1960s was the Christmas Eve broadcast from lunar orbut as the crew of Apollo 8-- Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders-- read passages from Genesis as the lunar surface rolled by its television camera.

Another cultural icon is also connected to Apollo 8. The famous "Earthrise" photograph taken on that mission sparked not only a space advocacy movement but also became an important image for the environmental movement.