Apollo 8
Mission overview
Apollo 8 was the first crewed mission to leave Earth orbit and orbit the Moon, returning the famous 'Earthrise' photograph.
Mission data
Identity and engineering data from Wikidata (type-verified match · Q184201) · launch date 1968-12-21 confirmed
| International designator | 1968-118A | Wikidata · catalogued |
| Operator | National Aeronautics and Space Administration | Wikidata · catalogued |
Full field-level provenance
- International designator: Wikidata (Wikimedia Foundation) — community-curated structured knowledge base · Wikidata · wdt · P247 · catalogued value · retrieved 2026-07-11
- Operator: Wikidata (Wikimedia Foundation) — community-curated structured knowledge base · Wikidata · wdt · P137 · catalogued value · retrieved 2026-07-11
Sourced from Wikidata (community-maintained structured data, whose statements link to their own citations where provided); each value carries its Wikidata QID. A field with conflicting Wikidata values is omitted. Launch date is used only to cross-check the catalogue, never to override it. Fields Wikidata did not provide, or where conflicting values exist, are omitted, never invented.
Outcome & discoveries
The crew became the first humans to orbit the Moon, completing ten orbits on Christmas Eve 1968.
Mission profile
Crew
Knowledge connections
- Operated byNASA
- Part of programApollo program
- Launched bySaturn V
- Launched fromKennedy Space Center
- Mission targetThe Moon
- Mission includesFrank Borman
- Mission includesJim Lovell
- Mission includesWilliam Anders
- CapturedEarthrise
- Associated withApollo 8 Orbits the Moon
Related missions
Sources
The primary and reference sources this topic draws on.
- NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration
Mission data, planetary science, space telescopes, and public-domain imagery.
Most NASA-produced imagery is in the public domain; individual items are checked for usage terms before publication.