Apollo 8 Enters Lunar Orbit
Apollo 8 entered lunar orbit on December 24, 1968.
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The Event
Apollo 8 entered lunar orbit on December 24, 1968. Its three astronauts became the first people to orbit another celestial body.
The Wider Story
The crew observed the lunar surface and Earth from a new perspective. Photographs and a television broadcast brought the journey to a global audience.
Putting the Event in Perspective
The mission did not land on the Moon.
Reading the Historical Record
A recreation should use the command-service module and should not portray a lunar surface scene or invented original broadcast audio.
About the Historical Recreation
The accompanying visual is an illustrative reconstruction: an illustrative Apollo 8 spacecraft above the Moon with Earth visible beyond the horizon. It is not authentic archival footage, an eyewitness record or additional evidence for the event.
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