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Paul
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« on: December 21, 2008, 02:49:13 pm » |
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And I remember it as if it were yesterday - some things just affect you that way - and I was only 7 years old at the time.
Apollo 8, the first manned spacecraft to leave Earth orbit, launched on December 21st 1968 - a daring mission since it was only the third Saturn V rocket to be launched - the first, Apollo 4 was near faultless but the second, Apollo 6, had some quite bad problems though Werner von Braun's team were convinced they had them sorted - and they were right!
Apollo 8 flew to the Moon, performed 10 orbits and came home with the manned capsule splashing down safely in the Pacific 6 days later. It was an essential step towards meeting the challenge set by John F Kennedy in 1961 - that of sending a man to the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth before 1970.
Far less importantly this mission marked the start of my lifelong interest in Astronomy and Space exploration!
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rjgjr
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« Reply #1 on: December 21, 2008, 04:24:10 pm » |
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Yes, I can remember the launch of Apollo 8 as well, though I was a bit older at 17. Some things one never forgets. I remember being at a friends home when verses from the Bible were read as the spacecraft circled the moon watching Earthrise over the Moons horizon, what a site.
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