No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
This is a NASA recording on a reel-to-reel audio tape, made during the Apollo 8 mission, December 1968. This collection also consists of a CD that was made by NASM when the tape was delivered to Space History for Johnson Space Center (JSC).
Biographical / Historical:
The Apollo program began as part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) ten-year plan from 1959, which planned for lunar exploration some time in the 1970s. Following President Kennedy's speech of 25 May 1961, which called for a lunar landing by the end of 1969, NASA accelerated its development scheme accordingly. Apollo 8 (21 Dec - 27 Dec 1968) was the second manned flight of the program, the first manned flight of the Saturn V booster, and the first manned mission to orbit the moon. The main mission objectives were to "demonstrate crew-vehicle-support facilities performance during a manned Saturn V mission with [Command Service Module]" and to "demonstrate performance of nominal and selected backup lunar orbit rendezvous mission activities." The three-man crew, Frank Borman (commander), James A. Lovell (command module pilot), and William A. Anders (lunar module pilot) accomplished all these objectives and returned safely to Earth.
Provenance:
Department of Space History, National Air and Space Museum, Transfer, 2011
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Rights:
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests
