December 22, 2008 | 4 comments

The Voyage of Apollo 8: The 40th Anniversary of Mankind's First Trip to the Moon [Slide Show]

When three U.S. astronauts became the first humans to leave Earth's gravity field, some NASA experts gave them a 50-50 chance of making it home alive

By Michael J. Battaglia

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CLICK TO ENLARGE + NASA Headquarters-GReatest Images of NASA (NASA-HQ-GRIN)

TRAIL BY FIRE:

Apollo 8 leaves a fiery trail as it reenters Earth's atmosphere at around 25,000 miles (40,200 kilometers) per hour. This photograph was taken using a U.S. Air Force airborne lightweight optical tracking system (ALOTS) camera mounted on a KC-135-A aircraft flown at an altitude of 40,000 feet (13,000 meters). Apollo 8 splashed down on December 27, 1968, at 10:51 A.M. Eastern Standard Time in the central Pacific approximately 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) south-southwest of Hawaii.

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Features Apollo 8: When Mankind First Shook Earth's Kindly Bounds
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