Apollo 8

Preceded by: Apollo 7 - Followed by: Apollo 9

Apollo 8 was a manned mission of the Apollo space program. Apollo 8 was the first mission that took men to the Moon, the first time anyone was closer to another celestial body than they were to Earth. The spacecraft orbited the Moon and returned safely.

Launched: December 21, 1968

Returned: December 27, 1968

Crew members: Frank Borman, commander; Jim Lovell[?], command module pilot; William A. Anders[?], lunar module pilot

Mission notes:

• On Christmas morning, the crew read aloud the creation story from the book of Genesis; the reading was broadcast worldwide.