Questions tagged [apollo-8]
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12 questions
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Why was the "lunar launch window" different between the Cape Canaveral and Baikonur launch sites?
I'm reading A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts (page 78), and I was confused about this passage:
As the fall of 1968 wore on, apprehension surfaced once more within NASA. Would ...
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Was Apollo 8 lunar orbit entry speed intentional at 7,777 ft/s?
When Apollo 8 first went behind the back side of the Moon, it was traveling at 7,777 feet per second (https://history.nasa.gov/afj/ap08fj/12day3_lunar_encounter.html). Was the speed being all 7s (the ...
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Did astronaut Frank Borman really work at a petrol station after going to the moon?
I am listening to the book Rocket Men by Robert Kurson, and 22 minutes in to the epilogue, the author says the following:
Weeks after the return of Apollo 8, Frank Borman went to work pumping
gas at ...
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Did they manufacture six space suits for Apollo astronaut James A. Lovell?
An Apollo astronaut got three space suits, one for training on Earth, one for flight and one as backup.
James A. Lovell did fly on Apollo 8 as Command Module pilot and on Apollo 13 as Mission ...
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Apollo 4 vs Apollo 8 plume
I was recently browsing photos of early Apollo missions and noticed that the plume of the Apollo 4 during launch is significantly bigger than that of Apollo 8. Wondering why is that?
Apollo 4 (top) ...
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Puzzler: which Apollo 8 astronaut would have been positioned furthest sunwards 20 minutes after lunar insertion?
This Classic @DavidHammen answer to the question Who has been the closest to/furthest from the Sun? says:
This bodes well for an Apollo astronaut being the person closest to the Sun, but bodes ill ...
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What gave NASA the confidence for a translunar injection in Apollo 8?
In Carrying the Fire, Michael Collins observes humorously that Apollo 8 was only the third time the Saturn V had flown. To a non-specialist, it does seem remarkable that NASA was confident to put ...
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Who gave the famous photograph "Earthrise" its name?
"Earthrise" is one of the most famous photographs in history. The picture of the Earth from orbit around the moon was taken by astronaut Bill Anders during Apollo 8. But who gave the picture its ...
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"Luckily with no Lunar Module, Tidbinbilla was able to keep tracking with no interruption..." Why is no LM significant?
@PearsonArtPhoto's answer links to the page Apollo 8, 21 – 28 December 1968 by Hamish Lindsay at honeysucklecreek.net.
The page describes a problem with one of the dish antennas that needed to be ...
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How many people spoke to Apollo 8 from outside the US?
@PearsonArtPhoto's answer links to the page Apollo 8, 21 – 28 December 1968 by Hamish Lindsay at honeysucklecreek.net.
It shows a clipping from The Canberra Times front page, "With thanks to Mike ...
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What exactly turned on the light indicating Apollo 8 was starting to fall towards the Moon?
@PearsonArtPhoto's answer links to the page Apollo 8, 21 – 28 December 1968 by Hamish Lindsay at honeysucklecreek.net from where I have quoted below.
Question: What exactly turned on the light ...
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Why does the Apollo-8 Trans-Lunar Injection burn appear to be pulsing in this photo?
This tweet called my attention to The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum story Photographing Apollo 8's Orbit Toward the Moon. The story is quite an interesting bit of space history and worth a ...
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