Man's First Flight Around the Moon

Black and white photograph of three astronauts in spacesuits without helmets on white background between black and white images of Earth on the left, and the moon on the right, and black text directly above and below the image. There is white text on a red top edge and blue bottom edge. Additionally, the name and duration of the mission appears in blue below the astronauts and the dates appear in red above.

The Apollo 8 Mission launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on December 21, 1968. Pictured are Frank Borman, James Lovell Jr., and William Anders, who completed the mission, successfully orbiting the moon and returning to Earth—the first time a crewed vessel did so. They were also the first three humans to see the dark side of the moon. From this mission, the iconic photo of Earth from space, “Earthrise” was taken by Major Anders while he was supposed to be cataloging the Moon’s craters.