1968-118A
- Commander: Frank Borman, Col. USAF
- Senior Pilot: James Lovell Jr., Capt. USN
- Pilot: William Anders, Maj. USAF
Apollo 8 Crew
Apollo CSM 103 was launched on the AS-503 mission (Apollo 8) at 1251 on 1968 Dec 21. Apollo 8 was a historic mission - for the first time human beings would leave Earth's gravitational sphere of influence and head for the Moon. Apollo 8 entered a 179 x 190 km x 32.6 deg Earth parking orbit at 1302, and at 1541 the S-IVB stage reignited for translunar injection - TLI. The Apollo separated from the Saturn, turned around for practice at stationkeeping, and then moved away to begin its cruise to the Moon.
At 2029 on 1968 Dec 23, Borman, Lovell and Anders passed through the point at which the Moon's gravity became greater than the Earth's. At 1003 on Dec 24 they fired up the SPS engine to enter an elliptical orbit around the Moon. The orbit apogee was lowered to circularize the path at 1426.
The Apollo 8 spaceship spent a day in lunar orbit, taking the famous `Earthrise' photo of the Earth rising above the lunar horizon.
CSM 103 began its flight back to the Earth at 0610 on 1968 Dec 25, the SPS engine boosting it out of lunar orbit. At 1519 on Dec 27 the Service Module was jettisoned to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere. The CM began reentry at 1537, at 122 km altitude, making the first piloted `skip reentry'. CM-103 descended to 55 km and then rose again to 64 km before descending toward the Pacific. It would fly a range of 2500 km from entry to splashdown. The Command Module touched down in the Pacific at 1551 on 1968 Dec 27.
| Apollo CSM 103 Mission Log | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 Dec 21 | 1251:00 | Launch of SA-503 | |
| 1968 Dec 21 | 1253:06 | S-IC center engine cutoff | |
| 1968 Dec 21 | 1253:33 | S-IC outboard engines cutoff | |
| 1968 Dec 21 | 1253:34 | S-IC-503 separation, altitude 80.5 km | |
| 1968 Dec 21 | 1254:08 | LES separation | |
| 1968 Dec 21 | 1259:44 | S-II-3 separation | -2286 x 192 x 32.66 |
| 1968 Dec 21 | 1259:45 | S-IVB burn ignition | |
| 1968 Dec 21 | 1302:25 | S-IVB main engine cutoff | |
| 1968 Dec 21 | 1302:35 | Earth orbit insertion, | 179 x 190 km x 32.6 deg |
| 1333:05 | Optics cover jettison | ||
| 1968 Dec 21 | 1541:38 | S-IVB TLI burn | |
| 1968 Dec 21 | 1546:55 | S-IVB main engine cutoff | |
| 1968 Dec 21 | 1547:05 | Translunar injection | 214 x 544356 x 30.71 |
| C3 = -1.479 | 218 x 545303 x 31.07 | ||
| 1968 Dec 21 | 1611:59 | S-IVB-503 separation | 141 x 538222 x 30.71 |
| 1968 Dec 21 | 1613 | Stationkeeping exercise | |
| 1968 Dec 21 | 1631:01 | Sep (RCS) | |
| 1968 Dec 21 | 1736:01 | Sep-2 (RCS) 2.3m/s | |
| 1968 Dec 21 | 2351 | MCC-1 (SPS mid course correction) | 308 x 535599 x 30.6 |
| 1968 Dec 23 | 2029 | Equigravisphere | |
| 1968 Dec 24 | 0150:55 | MCC-4 (RCS mid course correction) | |
| 1968 Dec 24 | 0959:02 | Begin LOI-1 | 122 x -11021 x 145.49 |
| 1003:27 | LOI-1 (SPS lunar orbit insertion, 4:06) | 110 x 293 x 151.2 | |
| 1968 Dec 24 | 1007:34 | Lunar orbit insertion, | 112 x 313 km x 168 deg |
| 1968 Dec 24 | 1426:07 | LOI-2 (SPS burn, 10s) | 109 x 305 x 156.8 (MR) |
| 1426:17 | LOI-2 CO | 112 x 113 km x 168 deg | |
| 1968 Dec 25 | 0610:16 | TEI (SPS 3min23s burn) | 105 x 115 x 150 |
| 1968 Dec 25 | 0613:39 | Transearth Injection | 110 x -8518 x 153.7 |
| Return to Earth gravity sphere | |||
| 1968 Dec 25 | 2050:54 | MCC-5 (midcourse correction) | -585 x 982887 x 37.7 |
| 1968 Dec 27 | 1519:48 | SM-108 separation | |
| 1968 Dec 27 | 1537:12 | Entry interface 11.040km/s at -6.50deg | 38 x 1038993 x 37.2 |
| 1968 Dec 27 | 1551:42 | Splashdown, 08 08 N, 165 W, Pacific Ocean | |
| 1968 Dec 27 | 1645 | Recovery by USS Yorktown | |
