“Apollo 8 probably remains as the most significant mission ever flown.” —Chris Kraft, NASA's first Flight Director 📹 View of the surface of the Moon through a window of the Apollo 8 Command Module, December 1968 | NASA History

Today marks the anniversary of the launch of Apollo 8, the first manned spacecraft to leave Earth’s orbit, reach and orbit the moon, and safely return. Former National Geographic Society President Melvin M. Payne describes this historic mission, which signified an important prelude to landing on the Moon, in 1969: “Never before had man traveled so far, so fast, or looked so closely upon another celestial body. Never before had so many millions listened and watched, their imaginations fired as th