"American Experience: Chasing The Moon" Part Two

Last night, part two of "American Experience: Chasing The Moon" was shown on PBS.

It picked up where part one left off. It began with the Gemini program what trained astronauts in spacewalks, rendezvous & docking and other necessary things needed for the upcoming Apollo program.

Part two, in my view, was better than part one in that it showed more rocket footage (Gemini-Titan II and Apollo-Saturn V).

The tragedy of the flash fire in Apollo 1 in January 1967 was thoroughly covered (including the chilling last radio transmissions of the Apollo 1 crew during the fire) and its effects on fellow astronauts and their families as well as the whole NASA space program. To this day, I remember that night. It was a Friday night and my parents went to the bank and I stayed home and watched the news coverage until they came home to pick me up to go to dinner.

The silver lining of the Apollo 1 fire is that it exposed the sloppy workmanship of the space vehicles and by the time the Apollo program resumed with all the corrections and modifications, it was a far better spacecraft.

It is interesting that nobody knew what to expect when the first test launch (unmanned) of the Saturn V was made in 1967, especially the shock wave, and the fact that the Apollo 8 mission to the moon was only the second-ever launch of the Saturn V.

The country was in deep turmoil in 1968 and the Apollo 8 mission at least ended the year on a bright note.

Part three will be shown tonight.

Apollo 8: 40 Years Ago

Above, the Earth as seen by the Apollo 8 astronauts in moon orbit.

It is hard to believe that forty years have passed since Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders were the first humans to leave Earth orbit and to travel to the moon in Apollo 8.

Their mission in December 1968 was to test the Apollo spacecraft's systems in achieving moon orbit, which was crucial for a manned moon landing. Originally, they were going to test the Lunar Module (LM) in Earth orbit, but production delays prevented that plan. So NASA sent them to the moon instead. They orbited the moon ten times in 20 hours. The live televised broadcast from the moon was highlighted by Borman's reading from Genesis. The rocket engine that would break Apollo 8 from moon orbit and sending it back to earth was fired on Christmas Day.

1968 was a year of turmoil. It was marked by bitter civil unrest over the Viet Nam War, the assassinations of Sen. Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King and the Tet Offensive, which led to President Lyndon Johnson to not seek re-election. The Apollo 8 mission was the only inspiring event that year.

It is hard to believe that 40 years have passed since Apollo 8.