Astronomy

Launch

December 2 1, 19 6 8,

at 7:51 A.M. EST

Pacic splashdown

December 2 7, 19 6 8,

at 9:51 A.M. EST

Lunar orbit

insertion

December 2 4, 19 6 8,

at 3:59 A.M. EST

Trans-Earth

injection

December 2 5, 19 6 8,

at 1 2 :10 A.M. EST

Trans-lunar injection

December 2 1, 19 6 8,

at 10:47 A.M. EST Moon at launch

Moon at

splashdown

Earth parking

orbit

2

5

3

4

1

WWW.ASTRONOMY.COM 33

Lovell: We thought it was
very important.... We
thought that it would have

meaning to those back on
Earth. And [we were] very

fortunate. When the word
came down to do the f light,
the three of us were in

Downey, California, going
over the spacecraft. And they
called Frank back [to explain

the mission changes].
So Frank listened. He said,

“Well, OK, we just want to go
around the Moon and come
back again; let’s circumnavi-

gate.” “No, no, no, no. You
don’t get anything out of that
for the landings,” [they

replied]. “Well, we’re not tak-
ing anything, no photogra-
phy, no TV camera, nothing

like that.” And they said,
“You’ve got to be crazy.”

[He saw] his job was to
beat the Russians, get around
[the Moon], and they said,

“No, no, this is not that at all.
You gotta take pictures. We
want the TV camera.... We

all want that.” And so it
slowly evolved that [Frank]

got to be more and more
really knowing the meaning
of this particular flight.

Astronomy: When you’re on
the farside of the Moon and

getting ready to come back,
did you have any concerns
about whether the rocket

would fire? Neil and Buzz

said that when they were on

the surface, they chose not

to think about what would

happen if the lunar module

rocket wouldn’t fire.

Lovell: I don’t think that any

f light to the Moon and back,

ever, [wondered] whether the

engines would light again

or not. I mean, you have to

take that on faith. There is no

alternative, that’s what’s going

to happen. And it’s kind of

funny. I was running the com-

puter, and so we had a count-

down on the computer with

the exact time to light the

engine. And I had my finger

on a thing called “proceed,”

and I must have hesitated just

a minute. Frank said, “Push

the button, push the button.”

So I pushed the button, and

the engine came on, very,

very gently at first, and then it

slowly pushed us back in our

seats so we knew the engine

was running. And I could see

on the computer the increase

in velocity as we were going

along, and I knew that we had

to attain a certain velocity

to escape from the Moon to

come back to the Earth.

Astronomy: You had men-

tioned before about how in

America and around the

world, 1968 was a time of

great upheaval. Apollo 8 came

at the end of that long year

and put a much different, and

more positive, spin on that

year. Did you have any sense

at the time about how your

mission was going to change

many people’s minds about

what the year had been like?

Lovell: No, we didn’t. As long

as we were in the spacecraft

coming back we only talked

to one person, and that was

the CapCom [the capsule

communicator]. We did start

to read newspapers on the

ship that had picked us up to

give us a feeling of really what

The Apollo 10 command module appears to the
lower right of triangular Mount Marilyn on the
southeastern shore of the Sea of Tranquillity.

Tsiolkovsky Crater sticks out on the lunar farside.

The Apollo 8 astronauts were the first humans to

see the farside with their own eyes.

The rugged lunar farside is pockmarked with

craters and sports few of the large lava-filled

basins seen on the nearside.

Apollo 8’s voyage

to the Moon

ASTRONOMY

: ROEN KELLY