STS-135 T-17 Days - Apollo 7 October 1968/Apollo 8 December 1968, Going to the Moon

The Lunar Trajectories

On October 11, 1968, the first manned Apollo was launched.  It was designated Apollo 7.  The decade was almost over and we still had to get to the moon.  Apollo 7 tested the redesigned Apollo Command Module and all of the Service Module functions in an 11 day mission in Earth orbit.  The capsule performed well.

Just two months later, Apollo 8 was launched.  Apollo 8's mission was to go to the moon and back!  The LEM was not ready.  But we needed to test our ability to get to the moon and back.  The SCM was sent by itself.  The mission was to go to the moon, orbit the moon and then return.  Wow!  Think about this.  For most of you this is a history lesson rather than a reminiscence.  Next time you are looking at the moon, imagine a rocket taking someone there circling it for a while and then coming back.  It is still unbelievable.

First Photo of Earth

Apollo 8 introduced us to many new terms in the reporting of the moon missions.  The news shows all educated all Americans about the physics and the mechanics of traveling to the moon.  After being blasted into Earth orbit came the Trans Lunar Injection (TLI) rocket burn.  This accelerated the rocket fast enough to nearly escape the Earth's gravitation.  We were told that  speed is called Earth's Escape Velocity. 

We were told we didn't need to reach escape velocity, because as we neared the moon we would enter the Lunar Sphere of Influence, where the moon's gravity was stronger than Earth's.  The spacecraft then sped up, like going down hill as the moon pulled it in.  When we reached the moon, the moon would pull the spacecraft around it in a curve.  This was when the critical Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) rocket burn would slow the SCM enough to stay in lunar orbit, instead of being flung off into space.  This burn was critical and occurred on the far side of the moon.  The moon blocked communication with the SCM during the burn and we had to wait till it came around the back side to see if it worked.  After 10 orbits, again on the far side of the moon, the Trans Earth Insertion (TEI) rocket burn started the Apollo home.

First Earthrise

After the TLI burn, the Apollo spacecraft was oriented towards Earth.  In Earth orbit, they were still so close that they only saw horizons, like in a plane.  Traveling to the moon, they were finally far enough away to take the first photo of the entire Earth.  It is a beautiful, fragile planet.  The atmosphere is so thin it cannot be seen.  Follow the photo link for a bigger version.  Once orbiting the moon, the first Earthrise photo was taken.  The muddy brown of the moon is a stark contrast to Earth.  These whole views of Earth were published everywhere, then, and we still frequently see these photos.  A few years later, we would be doing a joint mission with the Soviets, our other Earthlings.  These photos still symbolize a unified human race.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_8