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Even with 99.9 percent reliability,
the engineers could anticipate
5,600 defects. Nevertheless, over
its 17 unmanned and 15 manned
flights, the Saturn boosters had
shown 100 percent reliability.
With two partially successful
test flights under its belt, Mueller
declared that the next launch
would carry astronauts.
Until 1967, progress had been
smooth, despite the breakneck
pace. Then disaster struck. An
electrical short-circuit during
a launch rehearsal started a fire
that incinerated the Apollo 1 crew
inside the Command Module.
The toxic smoke and intensity
of the fire in a pressurized, pure-
oxygen atmosphere killed Virgil
“Gus” Grissom, Ed White, and
Roger Chaffee in less than five
minutes. In the wake of this
tragedy, the next five Apollo
missions were unmanned
tests. Modifications were made,
resulting in a safer spacecraft
with a new gas-operated hatch,
a 60–40 oxygen–nitrogen mix
in the cockpit, and fireproof
wiring throughout.Earth’s place in space
Apollo 8 was the first manned
spacecraft to leave Earth’s orbit.
On Christmas Eve 1968, Frank
Borman, James Lovell, and Bill
Anders looped around the far side
of the moon and witnessed the
astounding sight of Earth risingNEW WINDOWS ON THE UNIVERSE
from behind the moon’s surface.
For the first time, humans could
see their home from space—a
startlingly blue world lost in the
immensity of the void. As Anders
put it: “We came all this way to
explore the moon, and the most
important thing is that we
discovered the Earth.”
The crew was also the first
to pass through the Van Allen
radiation belts. This zone of
charged particles extends up
to 15,000 miles (24,000 km) from
Earth, and was initially thought
to be a serious barrier to human
space travel. As it turned out, it
resulted in a dosage of radiation
only equivalent to a chest X-ray.
Finally, the program was
ready for the last step—to take
real steps on the moon itself.
On July 21, 1969, an estimated ❯❯Apollo riding his chariot
across the sun was appropriate
to the grand scale of the
proposed program.
Abe SilversteinIn 1968, Apollo 8 broadcast live from
moon orbit. Images taken from the
spacecraft by astronaut Bill Anders
included the iconic Earthrise.