Apollo Program · First crewed lunar-orbit mission

Apollo 8

Crewed flight

Launch: 1968-12-21 12:51 UTC
Return: 1968-12-27 15:51 UTC
Duration: 6 days 03 hours 00 minutes

Mission summary

Apollo 8 was the first crewed Saturn V flight and the first time humans left low Earth orbit. Borman, Lovell, and Anders flew to the Moon, completed ten lunar orbits over 20 hours on Christmas Eve 1968, and returned safely. Anders's 'Earthrise' photograph and the crew's live Christmas Eve reading from Genesis became defining cultural moments. The mission was an audacious mid-program substitution — Apollo 8 had originally been planned as a low-Earth-orbit LM test, but LM delivery delays and intelligence about Soviet lunar plans prompted NASA to send the mission to the Moon instead.

Crew

Astronaut	Prior missions	Subsequent missions
Frank F. Borman II Commander	Gemini 7	None — final flight
James A. Lovell Jr. Command Module Pilot	Gemini 7, Gemini 12	Apollo 13 (Commander)
William A. Anders Lunar Module Pilot (no LM aboard)	None (first flight)	None — left NASA in 1969

Astronaut

Prior missions

Subsequent missions

Frank F. Borman II

Commander

Gemini 7

None — final flight

James A. Lovell Jr.

Command Module Pilot

Gemini 7, Gemini 12

Apollo 13 (Commander)

William A. Anders

Lunar Module Pilot (no LM aboard)

None (first flight)

None — left NASA in 1969

Launch vehicle

Saturn V SA-503

Objectives

First crewed flight of the Saturn V.
First crewed mission to leave low Earth orbit.
First crewed mission to enter lunar orbit and return to Earth.
Photographic survey of potential Apollo landing sites.

Milestones

When	Event
1968-12-21 12:51 UTC	First crewed Saturn V launch from LC-39A. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo8.html
1968-12-21 15:42 UTC	Trans-lunar injection burn — first humans to leave Earth's orbit. https://www.nasa.gov/history/afj/ap08fj/index.html
1968-12-24 09:59 UTC	Lunar orbit insertion — Apollo 8 became the first crewed spacecraft to enter another world's orbit. https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/Apollo_08a_Summary.htm
1968-12-24	Anders photographed 'Earthrise' from lunar orbit. Live Christmas Eve broadcast to Earth — at the time the most-watched TV program in history. https://www.nasa.gov/history/afj/ap08fj/index.html
1968-12-25 06:10 UTC	Trans-Earth injection — completed ten lunar orbits over 20 hours. https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/Apollo_08a_Summary.htm
1968-12-27 15:51 UTC	Splashed down in the Pacific Ocean; recovered by USS Yorktown. https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/Apollo_08a_Summary.htm

Primary sources

Last updated 2026-05-09 15:17 UTC.