Happy Apollo 8 Day

[BJ]

I tend to get fed up with all the Xmas songs, adverts and decorations sometime around Thanksgiving, so I look for other things to get excited about this time of year. The main one is the Apollo 8 Mission, which marked the first time humans had truly left the bounds of earth. For that reason, the mission is considered by some to be the ultimate human achievement, beating out the eventual moon landing.

On Christmas eve 1968, the three astronauts were the first humans to witness an earthrise, one of the most lasting images of the entire space program. So, on this sunny and warm Florida morning, about 40 miles from the launchpad, I wish you all happy holidays, and tip my hat to the entire crew of Apollo 8.

[Mr. Atari]

From one Apollo nerd to another: Thank you, plissken.

I told the story of Apollo 8 in a Christmas Eve message I gave last year. And while it's not as meaningful to me as the whole teenage mother giving birth in a barn thing, it's still incredibly significant and I'm glad you brought it up.

Now I'm going to dust off my "From the Earth to the Moon" DVDs and watch that episode tonight.

[BJ]

That's an incredible series. The one moment I always mention to people who haven't seen it is from the episode where they're building the spider. During the bitter sweet scene when the Grumman engineer watches the finished module getting ready to be sent off to the Cape, knowing he'll never see it again, I tend to shed a tear. It's just not common that a man watching an inanimate object getting put in a box elicits that kind of emotion.

[Phantom Engineer]

Dec 24, 2011 10:40:59 GMT -5 BJ said:

That's an incredible series. The one moment I always mention to people who haven't seen it is from the episode where they're building the spider.

I love that ep! I grew up following the Apollo missions.

[Torgo]

Thank you Michael Bay for revealing the conspiracy behind it all.

[Mod City]

In incredible moment in space travel, for sure. And I have to agree with everything said about From The Earth To The Moon. An amazing series filled with incredible moments. In addition to the Earthrise, there's the incredible scene where Apollo 8 lifts off intercut with the scenes of worldwide turmoil. Powerful.

Also love the scene where Georges Méliès and his assistant are watching his film and right as he gets ready to say "boom," they cut to a shot of the last Apollo mission taking off at night. Such a slick series and Ron Howard's Apollo 13 fits right in there.

Thanks for the Christmas Eve Apollo 8 reminder, plissken. Good stuff.

[Weirdo Writer]

Thanks for posting this!

[mrsphyllistorgo]

As long as we believe in what we can do, we cannot perish.

God Bless the earth and every denizen theron.