Apollo's Daring Mission

Before the moonwalk of Apollo 11 fifty years ago, the astronauts of Apollo 8 were also asked to do what no one else had done before - escape the gravity of Earth, orbit the Moon, and return safely.

This is one of the finest space flight documentaries I've seen. NOVA has really outdone themselves.

"Apollo astronauts and engineers tell the inside story of Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon. The U.S. space program suffered a bitter setback when Apollo 1 ended in a deadly fire during a pre-launch run-through. In disarray, and threatened by the prospect of a Soviet Union victory in the space race, NASA decided upon a radical and risky change of plan: turn Apollo 8 from an earth-orbit mission into a daring sprint to the moon while relying on untried new technologies. Fifty years after the historic mission, the Apollo 8 astronauts and engineers recount the feats of engineering that paved the way to the moon. (Premiered December 26, 2018)"

Runtime: 53:41 Follow this link and watch online.

And even the most casual observer of space flight is probably familiar with this famous Apollo 8 broadcast from Moon orbit on December 24th, 1968.