The first men to orbit the moon knew they were on an epic journey, but they never imagined the impact of a single image

If you had your druthers during Christmas week 1968, youd have wanted to get as far away from Earth as possible. The entire planet was a messsoutheast Asia was in flames, Czechoslovakia was living under a Soviet crackdown, Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King had been murdered and cities across the country had been torn by rioting.

As it happened, three men out of the 3.5 billion human beings then at large did have the chance to get out of Dodge, and so, on the morning of December 21, the crew of Apollo 8Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Andersclimbed atop their Saturn V rocket and set out for humanitys first manned mission to orbit the moon. For a trip that began with nothing short of an act of chemical violence7.5 million lbs (3.4 million kg) of thrust exploding out of the bottom of a 36-story rocket, accelerating the crew to an escape velocity of 25,000 mph (40,000 k/h)the actual moonward coast was a rather lazy thing.

For three days, the astronauts would drift away from the planet, their speed steadily slowing as the Earth tugged inexorably back on them. Finally, 80% of the way to the moon, lunar gravity would take over, speeding them up and pulling them in. Until the critical moment when theyd fire their engine to ease themselves into lunar orbit, they had comparatively little to do, and so, on the morning of Dec. 22, when they were 104,000 mi. (167,000 km) from home, Houston radioed up with the days headlines.

Let me know when it gets to be breakfast time, said the Capsule Communicator (Capcom) in Mission Control. Ive got a newspaper to read up to you.

Good idea, said Borman. We never did get the news.

TIMEs Jan. 3, 1969 issue, showing Men of the Year Apollo 8 astronauts William A. Anders, Frank Borman and Jim Lovell.

You are the news, the Capcom answered. The flight to the moon is occupying prime space on both newspaper and television. In other news, eleven GIs that have been detained five months in Cambodia were released yesterday and will make it home for Christmas. David Eisenhower and Julie Nixon were married yesterday in New York; he was described as nervous. The Browns took Dallas apart yesterday 31 to 20, and were sort of curious: Who do you like today, Baltimore or Minnesota?

Baltimore, Lovell answered. (History records that he was right: the Colts beat the Vikings 24 to 14.)

Mighty nice view from out here, Borman said peacefully.

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