EXPLORATION - What has gone before...
                       Apollo 8 page 1

Jim Lovell, William Anders, Frank Borman
                (Courtesy NASA)
"...proving the capability of the Apollo command and service modules and the crew to operate at lunar distance."

Apollo 8's portion of this plaque reads:

BORMAN - LOVELL - ANDERS
Launched: December 21, 1968 - Splashdown: December 27,1968
 
'A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND GOD BLESS ALL OF YOU - ALL OF YOU - ON THE GOOD EARTH.'
With these good wishes, the crew of Apollo 8 signed off their Christmas Eve telecast from orbit around the Moon.

Apollo 8 was the first manned mission to escape Earth's gravitational field and orbit another heavenly body. The crew became the first humans to view the far side of the Moon and to witness - and photograph - an Earthrise over the lunar horizon. Apollo 8 validated the Apollo program and its giant Saturn rocket. Just seven months later Apollo 11 would land on the Moon.
Plaque photograph by BLPlummer
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