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From the personal collection of one of the Apollo 8 astronauts, this silent film footage takes the viewer inside the December 1968 launch of Apollo 8. Apollo 8 became the first manned spacecraft to leave Earth orbit, reach Earth’s moon, orbit it and return safely to Earth. The three-astronaut crew — Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders — became the first humans to travel beyond low Earth orbit, the first to see Earth as a whole planet, the first to directly see the far side of the Moon, and then the first to witness Earthrise. The 1968 mission, the third flight of the Saturn V rocket and that rocket's first manned launch, was also the first human spaceflight launch from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, located adjacent to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Liftoff comes at mark 00:27. A breathtaking view of Earth is shown at mark 04:15 as well as the astronauts within their spacecraft (mark 04:55). Apollo 8 makes history at mark 04:40 as they enter lunar orbit and for the first time men see, with their own eyes, the lunar surface as Lovell described its grayish, pockmarked surface and the crew later comment on its vastness … and loneliness. At (6:31) the crew is seen at work in the spacecraft. We see more scenes from within the capsule before Apollo 8 splashes down (mark 12:12) and the astronauts are welcomed back to Earth by the crew of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet. Motion picture films don't last forever; many have already been lost or destroyed. For almost two decades, we've worked to collect, scan and preserve the world as it was captured on 35mm, 16mm and 8mm movies -- including home movies, industrial films, and other non-fiction. If you have endangered films you'd like to have scanned, or wish to donate celluloid to Periscope Film so that we can share them with the world, we'd love to hear from you. Contact us via the weblink below. This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit
