From the Earth to the Moon (1998): Season 1, Episode 4 - 1968 - full transcript
During the turbulent year of 1968 Susan Borman looks with dread on her husband's impending mission to orbit the moon.
[John F. Kennedy]
We choose to go to the moon.
We choose to go to the moon.
We choose to go to the moon
in this decade and do the other things,
not because they are easy,
but because they are hard.
Look at that.
That's beautiful.
It's gotta be one of the most proud
moments of my life. I guarantee you.
[man] History tells us
that the year 1937
was not a good one for the planet Earth.
Japan invaded China.
In Germany, concentration camps
were already operating.
A bloody civil war
was escalating in Spain.
And in the United States,
President Roosevelt had cause to say
that one-third of his people were
ill-housed, ill-clad and ill-nourished.
And yet, in 1937, Picasso painted
his masterpiece Guernica,
John Steinbeck published
Of Mice and Men,
and the Golden Gate Bridge was opened.
1937, then, was not
the cataclysmic year of the century.
There would be others, including one
when, in the midst of worldwide unrest,
Americans were hoping
to send three human beings
on the very first voyage
from the Earth to the moon.
[man on radio]
Strike leader, radio check.
[helicopters approach then recede]
.4-1-0 presently 1-5-0...
You'll have to move up.
Two hundred and thirty-two GI's killed
and 900 wounded
makes for one of the heaviest weeks
of the Vietnam War.
And it is not a week. it is just over
two days, the past two days.
There are two more alert forces that
are trying to push him out this way,
but he's heavily fortified,
he's got a lot of ammo.
Fire's still coming from the buildings
around a pair of officers' quarters.
[gunfire]
Here we are,
we're right in the center of Saigon.
Uh... In fact, just opposite
the presidential palace.
CIA men and MP's
have gone into the embassy
and are trying to get the snipers out.
[machine guns firing]
There are two more alert forces that
are trying to push him out this way.
- What's he got, small arms?
- Small arms, automatic fire,
grenade launcher, hand grenades.
- Have you lost any men here?
- Five, six people I've had wounded.
[helicopter approaches]
[explosion]
[man] The enemy, very deceitfully,
has taken advantage of the Tet truce
in order to create
maximum consternation...
[Lyndon Johnson]
I'd point out to you the time has come
when we ought to unite,
when we ought to stand up
and be counted,
when we ought to support our leaders,
our government,
our men and our allies
until aggression is stopped.
[reporter] ...has reported 542 US troops
were killed in Vietnam last week,
the second highest
weekly toll of the war.
All right. Let's go.
What assumptions are we making?
That the cabin is pressurized.
So this is an emergency EVAC on the pad?
Yes, Mr. Borman.
- Okay, walk me through it.
- Okay.
Release the lock pins.
Unlatch the gearbox.
Set the actuator handle to "unlock."
Pump the actuator five or six times.
Stow the handle. Open the hatch.
The whole procedure
takes 20 seconds, tops.
Twenty seconds, huh?
Close the hatch, please.
I need a chair.
Let me see if I've got this.
It takes 20 seconds to open this hatch.
That's you standing upright
on the factory floor.
This is me, strapped down
inside the spacecraft.
Everything's upside down,
above me and behind me.
Something goes wrong,
I don't wanna look at a checklist.
I can't wait 20 seconds to EVAC.
Something's gotta open that hatch
in a heartbeat.
We could try
a gaseous nitrogen cartridge.
That could blow the hatch instantly.
Okay, what are we waiting for?
Let's do it.
[man 2] We simply cannot afford
to stop in the midst of a shooting war
and take time out to debate
whether our past actions
were sound or unsound.
[protesters chanting]
[Johnson] I want, more
than any human being in all the world...
to see the killing stopped.
[man 3] To be killed and to kill
in fighting which is not in the interest
of the country you represent
is the ultimate tragedy.
[Martin Luther King]
Save our national honor.
Stop the bombing and stop the war.
[anchorman] It is the biggest rocket
anyone has ever seen,
a behemoth intended to transport men
beyond the influence of the Earth.
Not 1968, but, God willing, next year,
a rocket just like the one
out on pad 39A
will be taking men to the moon.
Today, of course,
it will be taking nobody anywhere.
This unmanned test is simply to see
if the great machine works,
if its engines ignite,
if it goes where it's supposed to
when it is supposed to.
As a veteran of every manned launch
of America's space program,
I can tell you that the mood here
at the Cape is a bit subdued.
But the fireworks display we are
about to see promises to be a good one.
[man on PA] Fifteen, 14, 13...
Ready for ignition and liftoff.
eleven, ten, nine...
Ignition sequence started.
seven, six, five, four, three...
All engines running.
one, liftoff.
- Liftoff.
- I can feel the shock wave in my chest.
The windows are rattling.
Oh, my God! Look at that thing!
Look at that thing go!
[engines roar]
[gunshot]
[reporter 2]
It was confirmed that Martin Luther King
has been shot on the balcony
of a hotel in Memphis.
[King]
It really doesn't matter with me now,
because I've been to the mountaintop.
[cheering]
And I don't mind.
Like anybody, I would
like to live a long life.
Longevity has its place.
But I'm not concerned about that now.
[bell tolls]
I just want to do God's will.
And He has allowed me to go up
to the mountain, and I've looked over...
[reporter 3] Scattered violence broke
out in some sections of the city...
[reporter 4]
Within two hours of Dr. King's death...
[King] I may not get there with you,
but I want you to know tonight,
that we as a people
will get to the Promised Land.
[cheering]
[Robert Kennedy]
Martin Luther King dedicated his life...
to love and to justice
between fellow human beings.
For those of you who are black,
you can be filled with bitterness...
and with hatred,
or we can make an effort
and replace that violence
with an effort to understand...
compassion and love.
[clamor]
Look out for the gun!
- [whistle blows]
- [people shouting]
A doctor! A doctor!
[boy 1 ]
So who do you think's gonna win?
[boy 2]
McCarthy. He'll definitely take Chicago.
[boy 1 ] What, are you crazy? The guy
hasn't won in two or three weeks.
[boy 2]
So who do you think's gonna win?
[boy 1 ] Definitely Kennedy.
He's definitely taking the nomination.
Are you kidding?
Bobby Kennedy lost the Oregon primary.
- So?
- So no Kennedy's lost anything before.
And if he lost last night in California,
then he can lose in Chicago too.
Can I have the paper, Mom?
He was leading
when I went to bed last night.
There's no way the Democrats
won't nominate a Kennedy.
It's gonna be Kennedy and Nixon
all over again.
How much did he win by?
Mom.
Oh, my Lord.
Frank Borman.
- [woman] Frank, did you hear the news?
-Susan?
- They shot Kennedy.
- What?
Bobby Kennedy, he was shot last night
at the Ambassador Hotel in LA.
Oh, no. My God.
- Uh... Who did it?
- I don't know. They arrested somebody.
He had so many children, Frank.
What is going wrong this year?
What is happening?
- Susan...
- He should've never run.
He should've known
somebody would do this.
- I'm sure he was aware of the risks.
- Someone should've stopped him.
His wife, his mother, his brother,
somebody.
Look, I can't talk right now.
Let's try and talk again tonight.
I'll call you as soon
as I get back to the hotel, all right?
- All right.
- Bye.
[line clicks]
Bye.
[man 4] May the angels
take you into paradise,
may the martyrs come
to welcome you on your way
and lead you into the holy city,
Jerusalem.
[bell tolls]
[Edward Kennedy]
My brother need not be idealized
or enlarged in death
beyond what he was in life.
Be remembered simply
as a good and decent man...
who saw wrong and tried to right it...
saw suffering and tried to heal it...
saw war and tried to stop it.
Those of us who loved him...
and who take him to his rest today,
pray that what he was to us...
what he wished for others,
will someday come to pass
for all the world.
As he said many times
in many parts of this nation...
"Some men see things
as they are and say, 'Why?'
I dream things that never were
and say, 'Why not?"'
[anchorman] For the third straight day,
American jets have attacked targets near
Hanoi and Haiphong in North Vietnam.
The US is now dropping a daily average
of 3, 000 pounds...
This is what we think is their rocket.
They began rolling it out
about three days ago.
It's probably on the pad by now.
Completely new designs.
Not Vostok or Voskhod.
Uh-uh.
Russians have never built
a launch vehicle this large.
It's four stages
in a clustered engine configuration.
Multiple engines in multiple stages.
They'll have to test it,
which means they've built more than one.
Any information how fast
they can get the next one up?
If they're actually attempting
a flight to the moon,
they'll have a window in early October.
Eight, maybe nine weeks?
Exactly.
MIT and Raytheon are fighting
over the LEM computer system.
It has over a hundred defects in it.
It's still too heavy.
It won't be ready to fly at least until
early spring, and even that's a maybe.
- So we don't take it.
- What?
Leave the LEM here.
Fly to the moon without it.
There's a launch window in December.
Bypass the whole E mission
with the LEM in high Earth orbit.
Take only the command and the
service module all the way to the moon.
And back before the new year.
In one Hail Mary pass, we'd accomplish
so many mission objectives that...
[laughs]
Tom Paine's gonna think
we've lost our minds.
I see the logic of it.
If the Soviets fly around the moon
first, they've done it, we lose.
Still, no easy task.
Well, this is the proposition.
Swap missions with Jim McDivitt.
He, Rusty and Dave test-fly the LEM
in Earth orbit when it's finally ready,
and your crew takes spacecraft 103
into lunar orbit in December.
That sound like something
you'd be willing to do?
Absolutely.
It's important for the program
and it's important for the country.
I wouldn't take this mission if I didn't
have every confidence in its success.
[boy] Wow. So, you'll be flying around
the moon at Christmas?
- That sounds cool.
- Yeah. Can I go with you?
Uh... Maybe next time.
Now... give me a moment alone here
with your mother.
[boy] Yes, sir.
There you have it. All right?
Frank, of course.
[laughs] This is your career.
It's your decision.
It's always been that way,
so, all right.
I'd turn down the flight
if I didn't have every confidence.
Yes, I know.
Every confidence in the spacecraft
and the flight plan and the training.
You're a pilot, Frank.
You'd never turn down
a mission like this.
You always have every confidence.
I just want you to come home.
Hey, you know our deal.
You worry about the custard,
I'll worry about the flying.
All right, let's not go off half-cocked
on this. Once more around the table.
All right, not long ago,
you all were debating
if it was safe
to put men on top of the Saturn V.
Pardon my playing devil's advocate,
but what changed everybody's minds?
Why the sudden faith
that Apollo 8 will fly to the moon
in less than five months from now?
Wernher?
Well, the next Saturn V booster
will show the results of all the tests.
Once we decide to man it,
it does not matter how far it goes.
It will get there.
Get where? We have no plans,
no priorities, no mission rules.
There's no software yet.
We can't even simulate it.
That may be true, but when it comes
to the rocket, I have no reservations.
No reservations here either.
It'll be tight, but we'll be ready
to launch in December.
This is all assuming that Apollo 7
is a success.
If we're gonna send a crew
to the moon without the LEM,
it means we only have one engine.
There's no backup.
If the SPS goes bust,
there's no way home, folks.
Come on, Chris.
That's a worst-case scenario.
We can make sure the flight plan
has several decision points...
Go or no-gos
that will minimize the risks.
It may sound strange,
but in many ways, this is
the least risky of any Apollo flight.
Least risky?
We're talking about putting
three astronauts in one spacecraft
with only the SPS to get them back home.
That's the risk
with any lunar mission, Chris.
But if we're gonna land on the moon
by the end of next year,
we have to know if we can get there now.
I appreciate your concerns, but also,
I'd like this to be unanimous, Chris.
[sighs]
Okay, let's go. Let's do it.
If we're gonna send these boys
to the moon,
let's not just make a circumlunar flight
to beat the Soviets.
We have to stay in lunar orbit
for a while.
There's a lot to be done if we're
gonna make a landing next year.
Okay.
Jesus, if word gets out we're planning
to go to the moon for Christmas,
people will go nuts.
Up against the wall, motherfucker!
[crowd shouts]
[news theme music]
Good evening, this is the world.
The Soviet news agency, TASS,
announced the recovery of the Zond 5,
an unmanned spacecraft
that landed in the Indian Ocean
three days after circumnavigating
the moon.
The first to send an unmanned spacecraft
around the moon and return it to Earth.
The recent success
of Apollo 7's shakedown flight
has turned this command module
from a space capsule into a moon ship.
Russians do feel that Zond 5 prepared
them for a manned orbit of the moon.
They could go as early as next Tues...
Russian technology is the
dress rehearsal for a team cosmonauts...
[man] Frank Borman, Jim Lovell
and William Anders
are on the verge of making...
an historic flight in late December.
This is a NASA bombshell,
an electrifying announcement that,
while only made today,
has obviously been in the planning
stages for quite some time.
The American spacecraft will not merely
go round the moon and return,
but rather, using a series of maneuvers,
the crew will park themselves
in lunar orbit for a day.
Ten orbits around the moon,
enough time to map out possible
landing sites and approach vectors
for future Apollo missions
before firing their single,
massive engine to return home.
- Apollo 8...
- Apollo 8...
Apollo 8, three men in one craft
traveling over half a million miles.
The challenge is daunting.
God willing, an achievement
that will equal those of Columbus,
Magellan, Lindbergh and...
Richard Nixon!
[applause]
[Nixon]
This will be an open administration.
Open to new ideas.
Open to men and women of both parties.
Open to the critics
as well as those who support us.
We want to bridge the generation gap.
We want to bridge the gap
between the races.
We want to bring America together,
and I am confident that this task
is one that we can undertake
and one in which we will be successful.
[man on radio] CDR, STC.
We're good down here.
You guys all set?
Go.
[knocking]
[man] Mrs. Borman?
[gasps]
Mrs. Borman?
I'll be right there.
And here I am.
Great. All right,
the camera crew is all set.
They promised not to turn this
into an interview.
Believe me, they won't.
They want to film your reaction
to the launch.
If they start asking questions,
all you have to do...
I've discussed this with Frank,
and I know what to do.
Yes, ma'am.
[people chattering]
Thirty-five seconds and counting,
we'll lead up to a minute.
Mission sequence start at 3.9 seconds...
Would anybody like some more coffee?
- Okay.
- if all goes well at zero.
We've just passed
the 25-second mark in the count.
Twenty seconds. All aspects,
we are still go at this time.
T-minus 15, 14, 13,
12, 1 1, ten, nine...
We have ignition sequence armed.
The engines are armed.
Four, three, two, one.
[explosion]
[Johnson] I want, more than
any human being in all the world...
to see the killing stopped.
They must move on or be destroyed.
How long...
[reporter] Sixty-two Americans
were killed in action...
[George Wallace]
When I become the president,
I'll give you a passport to Hanoi,
and you go to Hanoi
or you go to Moscow.
[Robert Kennedy]
I am announcing today my candidacy...
[man] We take him to his rest today.
[King] Mine eyes have seen the glory
of the coming of the Lord!
[man on radio]
Looking good at two minutes.
All engines running
at ten miles altitude.
Sixty miles downrange.
Roger, Houston.
S-ll ignition, Houston.
Roger that, 8.
Trajectory and guidance
is looking good at three minutes.
Thank you, Houston. Apollo 8 is go.
First stage was very smooth.
This one's smoother.
Understand. Smooth and smoother.
Looks good here, guys.
"Smooth and smoother?"
Who are you kidding?
Jeez, that felt like we'd been
in a train wreck.
Kick in the pants, huh?
[chuckling]
Predicted cutoff is 11 plus 28. Over.
Understand. Eleven plus 28.
Secondary glycol pump: off.
Cabin air pressure return valve: on.
Cabin pressure, Bill?
I don't want you looking out
the window. We got work to do.
- Let's see to the checklist.
- Right.
Cabin pressure is 5.2 psi.
[inflating]
Aw, shoot! I must've
caught it on the couch.
You sure won't drown now.
You can't deflate that in the cabin.
It's all CO2.
It'll use up our air scrubbers.
Well, maybe I can rig it up
to the urine dump.
Yeah, do that.
- Navy man.
- Navy man.
- FIDO, Flight.
- Go, Flight.
Are you happy with the maneuver?
Yes, Flight. We're getting
just what we wanted to see.
All flight controllers, I want go, no-go
for a translunar injection burn.
- Retro.
- Go, Flight.
- Control.
- Go.
- Guidance.
- We're go.
- INCO.
- Go, Flight.
- EECOM.
- We're a go, Flight.
- GNC.
- Go, Flight.
- FAO.
- We're go, Flight.
- Network.
- Network go.
- Surgeon.
- Go, Flight.
CAPCOM, we are go
for translunar injection.
Apollo 8, Houston. You are go for TLI.
You are go for the moon.
Roger, Houston. Apollo 8 is go.
[man on recording]
♪ Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
- [humming]
- ♪ Jack Frost nipping at your nose
♪ Yuletide carols
Being sung by a choir
Jim, what are you doing?
Trying to figure out
where we are, Frank.
Okay, Antares,
I have you right where I want you.
Are we clear of that debris
from the S-IVB?
Yeah. I just gotta identify Sirius
and get our optical calibration.
- How's it going?
- Oh...
Well, Buzz has my eye patch.
Okay. Let's see. What's my score?
What do you know, sports fans?
Five balls.
[whistles] Nice work, Jim.
Uh, thanks, Mike. I do my best.
I've just been informed
that your accuracy at navigation
has reached the theoretical limits
of the system.
Well, that's very flattering, Mike.
Best guess is that you
must be cheating somehow.
Mike, you caught me.
I came up here by myself
last week to practice.
Well, we knew there had to be
an explanation.
- I nailed it. That new system is...
- [retches]
[groaning]
- [retches]
- Oh, man.
There you go, Frank.
[groaning]
[retching]
Hey, those are supposed
to be for emergencies.
[Borman groans]
Never mind.
Apollo 8, this is Houston. Do you copy?
Houston,
we had a little food spill here.
And we're gonna need
a few minutes to do some clean-up.
Roger that, Apollo 8.
Frank?
- Frank, do you want me to tell them?
- No.
Well, I think we have to.
I don't want the whole world to know
I've got the damn 24-hour flu.
We could put a message in the tape dump.
It might take them a little longer
to listen to it, but...
- it'd be more private.
- Yeah. Okay.
[Lovell] Good idea, Bill.
Number one window is clean
but has some lint on it.
Hey, Jimmy, this is no time
to be listening
to a "how to speak French" tape.
I wish. It's the tape dump.
One other thing.
Frank's had some vomiting.
He's resting now, but he had
some queasiness about 30 minutes ago.
Flight, EECOM.
- Go, EECOM.
- We've got a...
It can't be the flu. The crew was
inoculated against it before launch.
We don't want a sick crew
going into lunar orbit.
Borman took one Seconal
for his last sleep period.
Maybe it's a reaction to that.
- What'd he eat last?
- His last meal was day two, meal C.
Beef stew with peas and gravy,
corn niblets,
two cubes whole wheat bread,
tea, chocolate pudding.
If we have contaminated food,
we have a serious problem.
Look, we aren't gonna abort the mission
because of some bad pudding.
Let's just wait and see
if he gets better.
It's not just the vomiting
that worries me.
If Borman has diarrhea, that could
very quickly lead to dehydration.
Frank'll kill us
if we bring him back now.
They're on a free-return.
We can make a decision
well before lunar orbit insertion.
If he's still upchucking then,
we'll know what to do.
Quarter-million miles into outer space,
diarrhea's nothing to sneeze at.
I know.
Man, it's gotta smell bad up there.
[man] ♪ Cream-colored ponies
And crisp apple strudels
♪ Doorbells and sleigh bells
♪ And schnitzels with noodles
♪ Wild geese that fly
With the moon on their wings
♪ These are a few
Of my favorite things
I just want to tell you all
that the commander feels just fine.
[Collins] Very good, Apollo 8.
We are happy to hear that.
And I feel great.
Bill Anders is our cameraman today.
Before he tapes all of our filters
over the TV lens,
where I look back at you all,
Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell
has a message for a special someone.
Happy birthday, Mother.
Cut to Borman. Show Dad again.
Only if he takes off that Snoopy cap.
[laughing]
Boys.
And the Earth is now
passing through my window.
It's about the size
of the end of my thumb.
Oh, my God.
- The water's sort of a royal blue.
- Wow, Dad's far away.
The clouds, of course, are bright white.
- Are they gonna show the moon?
- No. Dad can't see it yet.
Something about the angle
of their flight path.
They'll have to show it tomorrow night
when they're in orbit.
[Lovell] if I was a lonely traveler
from some other planet,
what would I think about the Earth
from this altitude,
whether or not
I'd think it was inhabited?
They know we're here.
What I'm just curious about
is whether I'd land on the blue
or the brown part of the Earth.
Better hope we land on the blue part.
Houston, Apollo 8.
We've got a little time here.
I'd like to jump ahead
in our flight plan
and get us orientated
for lunar orbit insertion.
[Collins] Roger that, Apollo 8.
Frank, before you get started,
I have a message here from Susan.
She says, "The custard
is in the oven at 350." Over.
Uh... No comprende, Houston. Over.
Your wife says,
"The custard is in the oven."
[laughs] Oh...
Roger that.
Thank you for the message, Michael.
Frank is doing just fine Susan.
I've seen a lot of women lose
their husbands and become widows.
And you know what?
I think I may be next.
I have a feeling this is just my turn.
We all share some of that feeling,
Susan.
I won't lie to you.
Anytime we send human beings into space,
the bottom line is it's a risk.
Well, I appreciate your honesty, Chris,
but I know what
a free-return trajectory is.
So why don't you just slingshot them
around the moon and bring them home.
Don't stop them in orbit.
It'd be a waste to go to the moon
and not go into orbit.
Frank knows that.
That's the mission Frank signed up for.
Frank is a pilot.
He'd take any mission he's given.
If you're worried about the spacecraft,
Susan,
I got to tell you,
it is working perfectly.
So far.
We're not staying in orbit longer than
we have to to get the data we need.
Ten orbits. Less than a day.
Then the moment comes
when the engine has to fire.
You say everything is working fine,
but what happens if it doesn't?
We've already done a course correction
with the SPS engine.
It's working perfectly.
Do you realize what will happen
if you put those men into lunar orbit
and you can't get them out again?
Have you thought about that?
You'll ruin the moon forever.
No one will ever be able
to look up at it
without thinking of
those dead astronauts.
Susan, valves open inside the service
module. That's all that has to happen.
The engine doesn't have to spark
or ignite or light up.
It's hypergolic. The hydrazine mixes
with the nitrogen tetroxide
and it can't keep from burning.
All we do is open the valves,
and Frank comes home.
If you're wrong, Chris...
I won't even have his body to bury.
[Collins] Apollo 8, this is Houston.
Stand by for a go
on lunar orbit insertion.
Loss of signal
is expected in 37 seconds.
[Borman] Roger, Houston.
We're standing by for that go.
[no audible dialogue]
[no audible dialogue]
[Susan] "To whom it may concern.
In the event that Apollo 8
does not return from the moon,
I've prepared the following statement
to accompany
the official NASA press release.
'Frank Borman was everything
a man was supposed to be.
He was a caring husband,
a loving father,
a career pilot,
and a dedicated astronaut.
He did not fly for the glory or thrill.
He flew for the achievement found
in a job well done
and because his country needed him.
That the moon took his life
and the lives of his friends,
Jim Lovell and Bill Anders, saddens us
and makes this world a lesser place.
It is better that he is gone now, for he
could not have lived with the knowledge
"that the mission that was his command
had failed so tragically. "'
Oh, my God.
Wow, that's pretty.
[laughs]
Are you getting any of this?
Come on. Hurry up. Get a picture of it.
Hey, that picture's not scheduled.
- [laughs]
- [camera clicks]
Have you got it?
[clicking]
Take several of them, now.
Okay, where's that other camera?
- Frank, you got that other camera?
- Calm down, Lovell.
- Get the film. Take your time.
- Give this one to me. Let me take one.
Oh, darn. I'm out of film.
Think you got it?
It'll come up again.
All right, Anders,
let's get some film in these cameras.
Apollo 8, Houston. Do you copy?
Eight, this is Houston. Do you copy?
Houston, this is Apollo 8.
- We are now in lunar orbit.
- [applause]
[Collins] What does the old moon
look like from 60 miles?
Okay, Houston,
the moon is essentially gray, no color.
Looks like plaster of Paris.
Or a beach,
a sort of grayish beach sand.
We're seeing a lot of detail right now.
[Borman] I think the moon
is a different thing to each one of us.
I know my own impression
is that it's a...
a vast, lonely...
forbidding-type existence...
or expanse of nothing.
And it certainly would not appear to be
a very inviting place to live or work.
Jim, what have you thought most about?
Well, Frank,
my thoughts are very similar.
The vast loneliness
of the moon up here is awe-inspiring,
and it makes you realize
just what you have back there on Earth.
The Earth from here is a grand oasis
in the big vastness of space.
The sky up here
is also rather forbidding.
An expanse of blackness
with no stars visible when...
we're flying over the moon in daylight.
[Collins] We understand, Apollo 8.
We have a magnificent picture here.
For all the people back on Earth...
the crew of Apollo 8 has a message
we would like to send to you.
"In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth,"
and the earth was without form and void,
and darkness was upon
the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God
moved upon the face of the waters
and God said, 'Let there be light.'
And there was light.
And God saw the light
and that it was good,
"and God divided the light
from the darkness."
"And God called the light 'day'"
and the darkness he called 'night.'
And the evening and the morning
were the first day.
And God said,
'Let there be a firmament
in the midst of the waters
and let it divide the waters
from the waters. '
And it was so.
And God called the firmament heaven.
"And the evening and the morning
were the second day."
"And God said,
'Let the waters under the heaven"
be gathered together unto one place
and let the dry land appear, '
and it was so.
And God called the dry land earth.
And the gathering together
of the waters called He seas.
"And God saw that it was good."
And from the crew of Apollo 8...
we close with good night...
good luck...
a merry Christmas...
and God bless all of you...
all of you on the good Earth.
[Collins] Apollo 8, Houston.
Go ahead, Houston.
We've reviewed all your systems,
and you are go for TEI.
That's good news. Apollo 8 is go.
Everything looks good
going over the hill. Good luck, guys.
Roger, Houston. Thank you.
After ten revolutions around the moon,
one task will remain for the crew
upon which their lives depend.
The firing of the engine.
The crucial four-minute burn
of the SPS engine,
to begin astronauts Borman, Lovell
and Anders on their long voyage home,
takes place here
on the far side of the moon,
out of sight but certainly not out
of the minds of Mission Control
and all of us here.
We will not know Apollo 8's status
until the spacecraft comes
from around the far side of the moon
and acquisition of signal is achieved.
If the astronaut radio voices'
telemetry data
comes later than 38 minutes
after loss of signal,
it means quite simply that the engine
did not get a good burn
and Apollo 8 is still in orbit
around the moon.
The SPS engine must fire.
There is no backup, there is no
contingency in case of its failure.
All we can do is wait.
[no audible dialogue]
[Lovell] Houston, Apollo 8.
Please be advised,
there is a Santa Claus.
[excited chatter]
Thank you, Apollo 8.
You'd be the best to know.
[laughing]
[Collins] Apollo 8, Houston.
[Borman] Go ahead, Houston.
You received a number of congratulatory
telegrams in the past few hours.
If you don't mind,
I'd like to read a couple to you.
That sounds good. Go ahead.
Here's one that reads...
"Congratulations on one of
the greatest achievements made by man.
You have turned into reality
the dream of Robert Goddard."
And it's signed "Charles Lindbergh
and Ann Morrow Lindbergh."
This one is addressed to Frank Borman,
James Lovell and William Anders.
"Good luck and Godspeed."
And it's from Lyndon Baines Johnson.
And you got one
from a Mrs. Valerie Pringle.
I'm sure that's not a name
any of you recognize.
It's a telegram that one of the public
affairs officials at NASA picked out
because he liked it.
Mrs. Pringle writes, very simply...
"You saved 1968."
We choose to go to the moon.
We choose to go to the moon.
We choose to go to the moon
in this decade and do the other things,
not because they are easy,
but because they are hard.
Look at that.
That's beautiful.
It's gotta be one of the most proud
moments of my life. I guarantee you.
[man] History tells us
that the year 1937
was not a good one for the planet Earth.
Japan invaded China.
In Germany, concentration camps
were already operating.
A bloody civil war
was escalating in Spain.
And in the United States,
President Roosevelt had cause to say
that one-third of his people were
ill-housed, ill-clad and ill-nourished.
And yet, in 1937, Picasso painted
his masterpiece Guernica,
John Steinbeck published
Of Mice and Men,
and the Golden Gate Bridge was opened.
1937, then, was not
the cataclysmic year of the century.
There would be others, including one
when, in the midst of worldwide unrest,
Americans were hoping
to send three human beings
on the very first voyage
from the Earth to the moon.
[man on radio]
Strike leader, radio check.
[helicopters approach then recede]
.4-1-0 presently 1-5-0...
You'll have to move up.
Two hundred and thirty-two GI's killed
and 900 wounded
makes for one of the heaviest weeks
of the Vietnam War.
And it is not a week. it is just over
two days, the past two days.
There are two more alert forces that
are trying to push him out this way,
but he's heavily fortified,
he's got a lot of ammo.
Fire's still coming from the buildings
around a pair of officers' quarters.
[gunfire]
Here we are,
we're right in the center of Saigon.
Uh... In fact, just opposite
the presidential palace.
CIA men and MP's
have gone into the embassy
and are trying to get the snipers out.
[machine guns firing]
There are two more alert forces that
are trying to push him out this way.
- What's he got, small arms?
- Small arms, automatic fire,
grenade launcher, hand grenades.
- Have you lost any men here?
- Five, six people I've had wounded.
[helicopter approaches]
[explosion]
[man] The enemy, very deceitfully,
has taken advantage of the Tet truce
in order to create
maximum consternation...
[Lyndon Johnson]
I'd point out to you the time has come
when we ought to unite,
when we ought to stand up
and be counted,
when we ought to support our leaders,
our government,
our men and our allies
until aggression is stopped.
[reporter] ...has reported 542 US troops
were killed in Vietnam last week,
the second highest
weekly toll of the war.
All right. Let's go.
What assumptions are we making?
That the cabin is pressurized.
So this is an emergency EVAC on the pad?
Yes, Mr. Borman.
- Okay, walk me through it.
- Okay.
Release the lock pins.
Unlatch the gearbox.
Set the actuator handle to "unlock."
Pump the actuator five or six times.
Stow the handle. Open the hatch.
The whole procedure
takes 20 seconds, tops.
Twenty seconds, huh?
Close the hatch, please.
I need a chair.
Let me see if I've got this.
It takes 20 seconds to open this hatch.
That's you standing upright
on the factory floor.
This is me, strapped down
inside the spacecraft.
Everything's upside down,
above me and behind me.
Something goes wrong,
I don't wanna look at a checklist.
I can't wait 20 seconds to EVAC.
Something's gotta open that hatch
in a heartbeat.
We could try
a gaseous nitrogen cartridge.
That could blow the hatch instantly.
Okay, what are we waiting for?
Let's do it.
[man 2] We simply cannot afford
to stop in the midst of a shooting war
and take time out to debate
whether our past actions
were sound or unsound.
[protesters chanting]
[Johnson] I want, more
than any human being in all the world...
to see the killing stopped.
[man 3] To be killed and to kill
in fighting which is not in the interest
of the country you represent
is the ultimate tragedy.
[Martin Luther King]
Save our national honor.
Stop the bombing and stop the war.
[anchorman] It is the biggest rocket
anyone has ever seen,
a behemoth intended to transport men
beyond the influence of the Earth.
Not 1968, but, God willing, next year,
a rocket just like the one
out on pad 39A
will be taking men to the moon.
Today, of course,
it will be taking nobody anywhere.
This unmanned test is simply to see
if the great machine works,
if its engines ignite,
if it goes where it's supposed to
when it is supposed to.
As a veteran of every manned launch
of America's space program,
I can tell you that the mood here
at the Cape is a bit subdued.
But the fireworks display we are
about to see promises to be a good one.
[man on PA] Fifteen, 14, 13...
Ready for ignition and liftoff.
eleven, ten, nine...
Ignition sequence started.
seven, six, five, four, three...
All engines running.
one, liftoff.
- Liftoff.
- I can feel the shock wave in my chest.
The windows are rattling.
Oh, my God! Look at that thing!
Look at that thing go!
[engines roar]
[gunshot]
[reporter 2]
It was confirmed that Martin Luther King
has been shot on the balcony
of a hotel in Memphis.
[King]
It really doesn't matter with me now,
because I've been to the mountaintop.
[cheering]
And I don't mind.
Like anybody, I would
like to live a long life.
Longevity has its place.
But I'm not concerned about that now.
[bell tolls]
I just want to do God's will.
And He has allowed me to go up
to the mountain, and I've looked over...
[reporter 3] Scattered violence broke
out in some sections of the city...
[reporter 4]
Within two hours of Dr. King's death...
[King] I may not get there with you,
but I want you to know tonight,
that we as a people
will get to the Promised Land.
[cheering]
[Robert Kennedy]
Martin Luther King dedicated his life...
to love and to justice
between fellow human beings.
For those of you who are black,
you can be filled with bitterness...
and with hatred,
or we can make an effort
and replace that violence
with an effort to understand...
compassion and love.
[clamor]
Look out for the gun!
- [whistle blows]
- [people shouting]
A doctor! A doctor!
[boy 1 ]
So who do you think's gonna win?
[boy 2]
McCarthy. He'll definitely take Chicago.
[boy 1 ] What, are you crazy? The guy
hasn't won in two or three weeks.
[boy 2]
So who do you think's gonna win?
[boy 1 ] Definitely Kennedy.
He's definitely taking the nomination.
Are you kidding?
Bobby Kennedy lost the Oregon primary.
- So?
- So no Kennedy's lost anything before.
And if he lost last night in California,
then he can lose in Chicago too.
Can I have the paper, Mom?
He was leading
when I went to bed last night.
There's no way the Democrats
won't nominate a Kennedy.
It's gonna be Kennedy and Nixon
all over again.
How much did he win by?
Mom.
Oh, my Lord.
Frank Borman.
- [woman] Frank, did you hear the news?
-Susan?
- They shot Kennedy.
- What?
Bobby Kennedy, he was shot last night
at the Ambassador Hotel in LA.
Oh, no. My God.
- Uh... Who did it?
- I don't know. They arrested somebody.
He had so many children, Frank.
What is going wrong this year?
What is happening?
- Susan...
- He should've never run.
He should've known
somebody would do this.
- I'm sure he was aware of the risks.
- Someone should've stopped him.
His wife, his mother, his brother,
somebody.
Look, I can't talk right now.
Let's try and talk again tonight.
I'll call you as soon
as I get back to the hotel, all right?
- All right.
- Bye.
[line clicks]
Bye.
[man 4] May the angels
take you into paradise,
may the martyrs come
to welcome you on your way
and lead you into the holy city,
Jerusalem.
[bell tolls]
[Edward Kennedy]
My brother need not be idealized
or enlarged in death
beyond what he was in life.
Be remembered simply
as a good and decent man...
who saw wrong and tried to right it...
saw suffering and tried to heal it...
saw war and tried to stop it.
Those of us who loved him...
and who take him to his rest today,
pray that what he was to us...
what he wished for others,
will someday come to pass
for all the world.
As he said many times
in many parts of this nation...
"Some men see things
as they are and say, 'Why?'
I dream things that never were
and say, 'Why not?"'
[anchorman] For the third straight day,
American jets have attacked targets near
Hanoi and Haiphong in North Vietnam.
The US is now dropping a daily average
of 3, 000 pounds...
This is what we think is their rocket.
They began rolling it out
about three days ago.
It's probably on the pad by now.
Completely new designs.
Not Vostok or Voskhod.
Uh-uh.
Russians have never built
a launch vehicle this large.
It's four stages
in a clustered engine configuration.
Multiple engines in multiple stages.
They'll have to test it,
which means they've built more than one.
Any information how fast
they can get the next one up?
If they're actually attempting
a flight to the moon,
they'll have a window in early October.
Eight, maybe nine weeks?
Exactly.
MIT and Raytheon are fighting
over the LEM computer system.
It has over a hundred defects in it.
It's still too heavy.
It won't be ready to fly at least until
early spring, and even that's a maybe.
- So we don't take it.
- What?
Leave the LEM here.
Fly to the moon without it.
There's a launch window in December.
Bypass the whole E mission
with the LEM in high Earth orbit.
Take only the command and the
service module all the way to the moon.
And back before the new year.
In one Hail Mary pass, we'd accomplish
so many mission objectives that...
[laughs]
Tom Paine's gonna think
we've lost our minds.
I see the logic of it.
If the Soviets fly around the moon
first, they've done it, we lose.
Still, no easy task.
Well, this is the proposition.
Swap missions with Jim McDivitt.
He, Rusty and Dave test-fly the LEM
in Earth orbit when it's finally ready,
and your crew takes spacecraft 103
into lunar orbit in December.
That sound like something
you'd be willing to do?
Absolutely.
It's important for the program
and it's important for the country.
I wouldn't take this mission if I didn't
have every confidence in its success.
[boy] Wow. So, you'll be flying around
the moon at Christmas?
- That sounds cool.
- Yeah. Can I go with you?
Uh... Maybe next time.
Now... give me a moment alone here
with your mother.
[boy] Yes, sir.
There you have it. All right?
Frank, of course.
[laughs] This is your career.
It's your decision.
It's always been that way,
so, all right.
I'd turn down the flight
if I didn't have every confidence.
Yes, I know.
Every confidence in the spacecraft
and the flight plan and the training.
You're a pilot, Frank.
You'd never turn down
a mission like this.
You always have every confidence.
I just want you to come home.
Hey, you know our deal.
You worry about the custard,
I'll worry about the flying.
All right, let's not go off half-cocked
on this. Once more around the table.
All right, not long ago,
you all were debating
if it was safe
to put men on top of the Saturn V.
Pardon my playing devil's advocate,
but what changed everybody's minds?
Why the sudden faith
that Apollo 8 will fly to the moon
in less than five months from now?
Wernher?
Well, the next Saturn V booster
will show the results of all the tests.
Once we decide to man it,
it does not matter how far it goes.
It will get there.
Get where? We have no plans,
no priorities, no mission rules.
There's no software yet.
We can't even simulate it.
That may be true, but when it comes
to the rocket, I have no reservations.
No reservations here either.
It'll be tight, but we'll be ready
to launch in December.
This is all assuming that Apollo 7
is a success.
If we're gonna send a crew
to the moon without the LEM,
it means we only have one engine.
There's no backup.
If the SPS goes bust,
there's no way home, folks.
Come on, Chris.
That's a worst-case scenario.
We can make sure the flight plan
has several decision points...
Go or no-gos
that will minimize the risks.
It may sound strange,
but in many ways, this is
the least risky of any Apollo flight.
Least risky?
We're talking about putting
three astronauts in one spacecraft
with only the SPS to get them back home.
That's the risk
with any lunar mission, Chris.
But if we're gonna land on the moon
by the end of next year,
we have to know if we can get there now.
I appreciate your concerns, but also,
I'd like this to be unanimous, Chris.
[sighs]
Okay, let's go. Let's do it.
If we're gonna send these boys
to the moon,
let's not just make a circumlunar flight
to beat the Soviets.
We have to stay in lunar orbit
for a while.
There's a lot to be done if we're
gonna make a landing next year.
Okay.
Jesus, if word gets out we're planning
to go to the moon for Christmas,
people will go nuts.
Up against the wall, motherfucker!
[crowd shouts]
[news theme music]
Good evening, this is the world.
The Soviet news agency, TASS,
announced the recovery of the Zond 5,
an unmanned spacecraft
that landed in the Indian Ocean
three days after circumnavigating
the moon.
The first to send an unmanned spacecraft
around the moon and return it to Earth.
The recent success
of Apollo 7's shakedown flight
has turned this command module
from a space capsule into a moon ship.
Russians do feel that Zond 5 prepared
them for a manned orbit of the moon.
They could go as early as next Tues...
Russian technology is the
dress rehearsal for a team cosmonauts...
[man] Frank Borman, Jim Lovell
and William Anders
are on the verge of making...
an historic flight in late December.
This is a NASA bombshell,
an electrifying announcement that,
while only made today,
has obviously been in the planning
stages for quite some time.
The American spacecraft will not merely
go round the moon and return,
but rather, using a series of maneuvers,
the crew will park themselves
in lunar orbit for a day.
Ten orbits around the moon,
enough time to map out possible
landing sites and approach vectors
for future Apollo missions
before firing their single,
massive engine to return home.
- Apollo 8...
- Apollo 8...
Apollo 8, three men in one craft
traveling over half a million miles.
The challenge is daunting.
God willing, an achievement
that will equal those of Columbus,
Magellan, Lindbergh and...
Richard Nixon!
[applause]
[Nixon]
This will be an open administration.
Open to new ideas.
Open to men and women of both parties.
Open to the critics
as well as those who support us.
We want to bridge the generation gap.
We want to bridge the gap
between the races.
We want to bring America together,
and I am confident that this task
is one that we can undertake
and one in which we will be successful.
[man on radio] CDR, STC.
We're good down here.
You guys all set?
Go.
[knocking]
[man] Mrs. Borman?
[gasps]
Mrs. Borman?
I'll be right there.
And here I am.
Great. All right,
the camera crew is all set.
They promised not to turn this
into an interview.
Believe me, they won't.
They want to film your reaction
to the launch.
If they start asking questions,
all you have to do...
I've discussed this with Frank,
and I know what to do.
Yes, ma'am.
[people chattering]
Thirty-five seconds and counting,
we'll lead up to a minute.
Mission sequence start at 3.9 seconds...
Would anybody like some more coffee?
- Okay.
- if all goes well at zero.
We've just passed
the 25-second mark in the count.
Twenty seconds. All aspects,
we are still go at this time.
T-minus 15, 14, 13,
12, 1 1, ten, nine...
We have ignition sequence armed.
The engines are armed.
Four, three, two, one.
[explosion]
[Johnson] I want, more than
any human being in all the world...
to see the killing stopped.
They must move on or be destroyed.
How long...
[reporter] Sixty-two Americans
were killed in action...
[George Wallace]
When I become the president,
I'll give you a passport to Hanoi,
and you go to Hanoi
or you go to Moscow.
[Robert Kennedy]
I am announcing today my candidacy...
[man] We take him to his rest today.
[King] Mine eyes have seen the glory
of the coming of the Lord!
[man on radio]
Looking good at two minutes.
All engines running
at ten miles altitude.
Sixty miles downrange.
Roger, Houston.
S-ll ignition, Houston.
Roger that, 8.
Trajectory and guidance
is looking good at three minutes.
Thank you, Houston. Apollo 8 is go.
First stage was very smooth.
This one's smoother.
Understand. Smooth and smoother.
Looks good here, guys.
"Smooth and smoother?"
Who are you kidding?
Jeez, that felt like we'd been
in a train wreck.
Kick in the pants, huh?
[chuckling]
Predicted cutoff is 11 plus 28. Over.
Understand. Eleven plus 28.
Secondary glycol pump: off.
Cabin air pressure return valve: on.
Cabin pressure, Bill?
I don't want you looking out
the window. We got work to do.
- Let's see to the checklist.
- Right.
Cabin pressure is 5.2 psi.
[inflating]
Aw, shoot! I must've
caught it on the couch.
You sure won't drown now.
You can't deflate that in the cabin.
It's all CO2.
It'll use up our air scrubbers.
Well, maybe I can rig it up
to the urine dump.
Yeah, do that.
- Navy man.
- Navy man.
- FIDO, Flight.
- Go, Flight.
Are you happy with the maneuver?
Yes, Flight. We're getting
just what we wanted to see.
All flight controllers, I want go, no-go
for a translunar injection burn.
- Retro.
- Go, Flight.
- Control.
- Go.
- Guidance.
- We're go.
- INCO.
- Go, Flight.
- EECOM.
- We're a go, Flight.
- GNC.
- Go, Flight.
- FAO.
- We're go, Flight.
- Network.
- Network go.
- Surgeon.
- Go, Flight.
CAPCOM, we are go
for translunar injection.
Apollo 8, Houston. You are go for TLI.
You are go for the moon.
Roger, Houston. Apollo 8 is go.
[man on recording]
♪ Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
- [humming]
- ♪ Jack Frost nipping at your nose
♪ Yuletide carols
Being sung by a choir
Jim, what are you doing?
Trying to figure out
where we are, Frank.
Okay, Antares,
I have you right where I want you.
Are we clear of that debris
from the S-IVB?
Yeah. I just gotta identify Sirius
and get our optical calibration.
- How's it going?
- Oh...
Well, Buzz has my eye patch.
Okay. Let's see. What's my score?
What do you know, sports fans?
Five balls.
[whistles] Nice work, Jim.
Uh, thanks, Mike. I do my best.
I've just been informed
that your accuracy at navigation
has reached the theoretical limits
of the system.
Well, that's very flattering, Mike.
Best guess is that you
must be cheating somehow.
Mike, you caught me.
I came up here by myself
last week to practice.
Well, we knew there had to be
an explanation.
- I nailed it. That new system is...
- [retches]
[groaning]
- [retches]
- Oh, man.
There you go, Frank.
[groaning]
[retching]
Hey, those are supposed
to be for emergencies.
[Borman groans]
Never mind.
Apollo 8, this is Houston. Do you copy?
Houston,
we had a little food spill here.
And we're gonna need
a few minutes to do some clean-up.
Roger that, Apollo 8.
Frank?
- Frank, do you want me to tell them?
- No.
Well, I think we have to.
I don't want the whole world to know
I've got the damn 24-hour flu.
We could put a message in the tape dump.
It might take them a little longer
to listen to it, but...
- it'd be more private.
- Yeah. Okay.
[Lovell] Good idea, Bill.
Number one window is clean
but has some lint on it.
Hey, Jimmy, this is no time
to be listening
to a "how to speak French" tape.
I wish. It's the tape dump.
One other thing.
Frank's had some vomiting.
He's resting now, but he had
some queasiness about 30 minutes ago.
Flight, EECOM.
- Go, EECOM.
- We've got a...
It can't be the flu. The crew was
inoculated against it before launch.
We don't want a sick crew
going into lunar orbit.
Borman took one Seconal
for his last sleep period.
Maybe it's a reaction to that.
- What'd he eat last?
- His last meal was day two, meal C.
Beef stew with peas and gravy,
corn niblets,
two cubes whole wheat bread,
tea, chocolate pudding.
If we have contaminated food,
we have a serious problem.
Look, we aren't gonna abort the mission
because of some bad pudding.
Let's just wait and see
if he gets better.
It's not just the vomiting
that worries me.
If Borman has diarrhea, that could
very quickly lead to dehydration.
Frank'll kill us
if we bring him back now.
They're on a free-return.
We can make a decision
well before lunar orbit insertion.
If he's still upchucking then,
we'll know what to do.
Quarter-million miles into outer space,
diarrhea's nothing to sneeze at.
I know.
Man, it's gotta smell bad up there.
[man] ♪ Cream-colored ponies
And crisp apple strudels
♪ Doorbells and sleigh bells
♪ And schnitzels with noodles
♪ Wild geese that fly
With the moon on their wings
♪ These are a few
Of my favorite things
I just want to tell you all
that the commander feels just fine.
[Collins] Very good, Apollo 8.
We are happy to hear that.
And I feel great.
Bill Anders is our cameraman today.
Before he tapes all of our filters
over the TV lens,
where I look back at you all,
Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell
has a message for a special someone.
Happy birthday, Mother.
Cut to Borman. Show Dad again.
Only if he takes off that Snoopy cap.
[laughing]
Boys.
And the Earth is now
passing through my window.
It's about the size
of the end of my thumb.
Oh, my God.
- The water's sort of a royal blue.
- Wow, Dad's far away.
The clouds, of course, are bright white.
- Are they gonna show the moon?
- No. Dad can't see it yet.
Something about the angle
of their flight path.
They'll have to show it tomorrow night
when they're in orbit.
[Lovell] if I was a lonely traveler
from some other planet,
what would I think about the Earth
from this altitude,
whether or not
I'd think it was inhabited?
They know we're here.
What I'm just curious about
is whether I'd land on the blue
or the brown part of the Earth.
Better hope we land on the blue part.
Houston, Apollo 8.
We've got a little time here.
I'd like to jump ahead
in our flight plan
and get us orientated
for lunar orbit insertion.
[Collins] Roger that, Apollo 8.
Frank, before you get started,
I have a message here from Susan.
She says, "The custard
is in the oven at 350." Over.
Uh... No comprende, Houston. Over.
Your wife says,
"The custard is in the oven."
[laughs] Oh...
Roger that.
Thank you for the message, Michael.
Frank is doing just fine Susan.
I've seen a lot of women lose
their husbands and become widows.
And you know what?
I think I may be next.
I have a feeling this is just my turn.
We all share some of that feeling,
Susan.
I won't lie to you.
Anytime we send human beings into space,
the bottom line is it's a risk.
Well, I appreciate your honesty, Chris,
but I know what
a free-return trajectory is.
So why don't you just slingshot them
around the moon and bring them home.
Don't stop them in orbit.
It'd be a waste to go to the moon
and not go into orbit.
Frank knows that.
That's the mission Frank signed up for.
Frank is a pilot.
He'd take any mission he's given.
If you're worried about the spacecraft,
Susan,
I got to tell you,
it is working perfectly.
So far.
We're not staying in orbit longer than
we have to to get the data we need.
Ten orbits. Less than a day.
Then the moment comes
when the engine has to fire.
You say everything is working fine,
but what happens if it doesn't?
We've already done a course correction
with the SPS engine.
It's working perfectly.
Do you realize what will happen
if you put those men into lunar orbit
and you can't get them out again?
Have you thought about that?
You'll ruin the moon forever.
No one will ever be able
to look up at it
without thinking of
those dead astronauts.
Susan, valves open inside the service
module. That's all that has to happen.
The engine doesn't have to spark
or ignite or light up.
It's hypergolic. The hydrazine mixes
with the nitrogen tetroxide
and it can't keep from burning.
All we do is open the valves,
and Frank comes home.
If you're wrong, Chris...
I won't even have his body to bury.
[Collins] Apollo 8, this is Houston.
Stand by for a go
on lunar orbit insertion.
Loss of signal
is expected in 37 seconds.
[Borman] Roger, Houston.
We're standing by for that go.
[no audible dialogue]
[no audible dialogue]
[Susan] "To whom it may concern.
In the event that Apollo 8
does not return from the moon,
I've prepared the following statement
to accompany
the official NASA press release.
'Frank Borman was everything
a man was supposed to be.
He was a caring husband,
a loving father,
a career pilot,
and a dedicated astronaut.
He did not fly for the glory or thrill.
He flew for the achievement found
in a job well done
and because his country needed him.
That the moon took his life
and the lives of his friends,
Jim Lovell and Bill Anders, saddens us
and makes this world a lesser place.
It is better that he is gone now, for he
could not have lived with the knowledge
"that the mission that was his command
had failed so tragically. "'
Oh, my God.
Wow, that's pretty.
[laughs]
Are you getting any of this?
Come on. Hurry up. Get a picture of it.
Hey, that picture's not scheduled.
- [laughs]
- [camera clicks]
Have you got it?
[clicking]
Take several of them, now.
Okay, where's that other camera?
- Frank, you got that other camera?
- Calm down, Lovell.
- Get the film. Take your time.
- Give this one to me. Let me take one.
Oh, darn. I'm out of film.
Think you got it?
It'll come up again.
All right, Anders,
let's get some film in these cameras.
Apollo 8, Houston. Do you copy?
Eight, this is Houston. Do you copy?
Houston, this is Apollo 8.
- We are now in lunar orbit.
- [applause]
[Collins] What does the old moon
look like from 60 miles?
Okay, Houston,
the moon is essentially gray, no color.
Looks like plaster of Paris.
Or a beach,
a sort of grayish beach sand.
We're seeing a lot of detail right now.
[Borman] I think the moon
is a different thing to each one of us.
I know my own impression
is that it's a...
a vast, lonely...
forbidding-type existence...
or expanse of nothing.
And it certainly would not appear to be
a very inviting place to live or work.
Jim, what have you thought most about?
Well, Frank,
my thoughts are very similar.
The vast loneliness
of the moon up here is awe-inspiring,
and it makes you realize
just what you have back there on Earth.
The Earth from here is a grand oasis
in the big vastness of space.
The sky up here
is also rather forbidding.
An expanse of blackness
with no stars visible when...
we're flying over the moon in daylight.
[Collins] We understand, Apollo 8.
We have a magnificent picture here.
For all the people back on Earth...
the crew of Apollo 8 has a message
we would like to send to you.
"In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth,"
and the earth was without form and void,
and darkness was upon
the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God
moved upon the face of the waters
and God said, 'Let there be light.'
And there was light.
And God saw the light
and that it was good,
"and God divided the light
from the darkness."
"And God called the light 'day'"
and the darkness he called 'night.'
And the evening and the morning
were the first day.
And God said,
'Let there be a firmament
in the midst of the waters
and let it divide the waters
from the waters. '
And it was so.
And God called the firmament heaven.
"And the evening and the morning
were the second day."
"And God said,
'Let the waters under the heaven"
be gathered together unto one place
and let the dry land appear, '
and it was so.
And God called the dry land earth.
And the gathering together
of the waters called He seas.
"And God saw that it was good."
And from the crew of Apollo 8...
we close with good night...
good luck...
a merry Christmas...
and God bless all of you...
all of you on the good Earth.
[Collins] Apollo 8, Houston.
Go ahead, Houston.
We've reviewed all your systems,
and you are go for TEI.
That's good news. Apollo 8 is go.
Everything looks good
going over the hill. Good luck, guys.
Roger, Houston. Thank you.
After ten revolutions around the moon,
one task will remain for the crew
upon which their lives depend.
The firing of the engine.
The crucial four-minute burn
of the SPS engine,
to begin astronauts Borman, Lovell
and Anders on their long voyage home,
takes place here
on the far side of the moon,
out of sight but certainly not out
of the minds of Mission Control
and all of us here.
We will not know Apollo 8's status
until the spacecraft comes
from around the far side of the moon
and acquisition of signal is achieved.
If the astronaut radio voices'
telemetry data
comes later than 38 minutes
after loss of signal,
it means quite simply that the engine
did not get a good burn
and Apollo 8 is still in orbit
around the moon.
The SPS engine must fire.
There is no backup, there is no
contingency in case of its failure.
All we can do is wait.
[no audible dialogue]
[Lovell] Houston, Apollo 8.
Please be advised,
there is a Santa Claus.
[excited chatter]
Thank you, Apollo 8.
You'd be the best to know.
[laughing]
[Collins] Apollo 8, Houston.
[Borman] Go ahead, Houston.
You received a number of congratulatory
telegrams in the past few hours.
If you don't mind,
I'd like to read a couple to you.
That sounds good. Go ahead.
Here's one that reads...
"Congratulations on one of
the greatest achievements made by man.
You have turned into reality
the dream of Robert Goddard."
And it's signed "Charles Lindbergh
and Ann Morrow Lindbergh."
This one is addressed to Frank Borman,
James Lovell and William Anders.
"Good luck and Godspeed."
And it's from Lyndon Baines Johnson.
And you got one
from a Mrs. Valerie Pringle.
I'm sure that's not a name
any of you recognize.
It's a telegram that one of the public
affairs officials at NASA picked out
because he liked it.
Mrs. Pringle writes, very simply...
"You saved 1968."