Apollo 8

Apollo 8 was the second manned mission of the Apollo space program that was launched. Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders became the first humans to travel beyond Earth orbit and into an orbit around the Moon. It was also the first manned launch of the Saturn V rocket.

Planning

On December 22, 1966, NASA announced the crew for the third manned Apollo flight: Frank Borman, Michael Collins and Bill Anders. Collins was replaced by his backup Jim Lovell, in July 1968, after Collins had to have surgery as he was suffering cervical intervertebral disc herniation—an intervertebral disc had slipped into the spinal cavity and required two vertebrae to be fused together. Collins recovered and went on to be the Command Module Pilot for Apollo 11.

Related Topics:
December 22 - 1966 - NASA - Michael Collins - July - 1968 - Intervertebral disc - Spinal cavity - Vertebra - Apollo 11

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In September 1967, the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas, proposed a series of missions that would lead up to a manned lunar landing. Seven mission types were outlined, each testing a specific set of components and tasks; each previous step needed to be completed successfully before the next mission type could be undertaken. These were:

Related Topics:
September - 1967 - Manned Spacecraft Center - Houston, Texas

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A - Unmanned Command/Service Module (CSM) test

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B - Unmanned Lunar Module (LM) test

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C - Manned CSM in low Earth orbit

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D - Manned CSM and LM in low Earth orbit

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E - Manned CSM and LM in an elliptical Earth orbit with an apogee of 4600 mi (7400 km)

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F - Manned CSM and LM in lunar orbit

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G - Manned lunar landing

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Of all the components of the Apollo system, the Lunar Module (LM), which would eventually be used to land on the Moon, had the most issues. It was behind schedule and when the first model was shipped to Cape Canaveral in June 1968, over 101 separate defects were discovered. Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, which was the lead contractor for the LM predicted that the first mannable LM, to be used for the D mission, would not be ready until at least February 1969, delaying the entire sequence.

Related Topics:
Lunar Module - Cape Canaveral - June - 1968 - Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation - February - 1969

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George Low, the Manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office, proposed a solution in August. Since the Command/Service Module (CSM) would be ready three months before the Lunar Module, they could fly a CSM-only mission in December 1968. But instead of just repeating the flight of Apollo 7, the C mission that would fly the CSM in Earth orbit, they could send the CSM all the way to the Moon and maybe even enter into orbit. This mission was dubbed the "C-Prime" mission. This new mission would allow NASA to test procedures that would be used on the manned lunar landings that would otherwise have to wait until Apollo 10, the F mission. There were also concerns from the CIA that the Soviets were planning their own circumlunar flight for December to upstage the Americans once again (see Zond program).

Related Topics:
George Low - Command/Service Module - December - 1968 - Apollo 7 - NASA - Apollo 10 - CIA - Soviets - Zond

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Almost every senior manager at NASA had no problems with this new mission. The only person who took some convincing was James E. Webb, the NASA administrator. However, outvoted by the rest of the agency he gave his approval. After leading the agency for eight years, he would resign just four days before the launch of Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo flight.

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Deke Slayton, the Director of Flight Crew Operations, decided to swap the crews of the D and E missions. James McDivitt, the original commander of the D mission, has said he was never offered the circumlunar flight but would probably have turned it down, as he wanted to fly the lunar module. Borman on the other hand jumped at the chance: his original mission would just have been a repeat of the previous flight, except in a higher orbit. This swap also meant a swap of spacecraft—Borman's crew would now use CSM-103, while McDivitt's crew would use CSM-104.

Related Topics:
Deke Slayton - James McDivitt

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In the end, the E mission would never fly as most its objectives had been covered by the Apollo 8 and Apollo 9 flights. Mission managers were also confident that Apollo 10 would also cover the remaining objectives with its lunar orbit flight.

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On September 9, the crew entered the simulators to begin their preparation for the flight. By the time the mission flew, the crew would have spent seven hours training for every actual hour of flight. Although all crew members were trained for all aspects of the mission, it was necessary to specialize. Borman as commander was given training on controlling the spacecraft during the re-entry. Lovell was trained on navigating the spacecraft in case communication was lost with the Earth. Anders was placed in charge of checking the spacecraft was in working order.

Related Topics:
September 9 - Simulators - Re-entry - Navigating

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It was not until November 12 that a public announcement was made about the change of mission for Apollo 8. Previous to this Thomas O. Paine, the deputy Administrator of NASA, had made a fleeting remark that all options were being considered.

Related Topics:
November 12 - Thomas O. Paine

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Borman's main concern during the four months leading up to the launch was keeping the flight plan as simple as possible, not accepting any addition that went beyond the simple objectives of performing the first manned Saturn V launch, going to the Moon and orbiting it. He made sure that they stayed in lunar orbit only as long as necessary—10 orbits.

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The crew, now living in the crew quarters at Kennedy Space Center, received a visit from Charles Lindbergh the night before the launch. They talked about how before his flight, Lindbergh had used a piece of string to measure the distance from New York to Paris on a globe and from that calculated the fuel needed for the flight. The total was a tenth of the amount that the Saturn V would burn every second.

Related Topics:
Kennedy Space Center - Charles Lindbergh - New York - Paris

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