For space nerds, the holiday season is synonymous with Apollo 8. It was the first manned mission in history to leave Earth’s orbit and a huge step towards NASA’s lunar landing just eight months later. It was also a daring mission to say the least, one planned largely in secret as an almost desperate measure to keep Apollo on track as the end of the decade loomed near.The original plan for Apollo 8 was to send a dummy spacecraft into Earth orbit in May of 1968. This would be the second such mission, coming on the heels of Apollo 6’s similarly unmanned launch in April. Things changed when Apollo 6, despite engine failures in the Saturn V rocket’s second stage during launch, was considered a resounding success. NASA decided to scrap its additional unmanned mission. In the interest of keeping Apollo moving forward, Apollo 8 was rescheduled for December by which time NASA hope to have a flight ready Command Service Module (CSM) and Lunar Module (LM) ready to test in Earth orbit.Unfortunately, the LM refused to cooperate with this new plan. Its production was badly behind schedule, forcing NASA to admit that the spacecraft wouldn’t be ready for a December launch. But putting Apollo on hold on account of the LM was out of the question. It wasn’t the only piece of Apollo that needed testing in flight. NASA needed to practice dealing with a crew in deep space. It needed experience in translunar navigation – making sure a spacecraft launching from Earth doesn’t miss the Moon. Crews and mission controllers alike needed to familiarize themselves with the challenges of flying in lunar orbit, communicating in deep space, and keeping the spacecraft healthy in this harsh environment.It was the head of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office George Low who came up with the elegant if daring plan: send Apollo 8 to the Moon without the LM. Get some experience with a lunar flight, then come back to Earth orbit and test the landing on Apollo 9. It made a lot of sense. The decision was finalized on August 19. A 19,900-pound LM test article would take the place of the LM to give the Saturn V the correct launch mass, and the crew would go into lunar orbit.NASA had just one big hurdle in its way at this point: Apollo 7. Set to fly in October 1968, this mission would be the first manned flight of the Apollo CSM in Earth orbit since the spacecraft had been extensively rebuilt after the Apollo 1 fire. If there were any hardware problems on Apollo 7, Apollo 8’s lunar flight would be subject to change. In light of this uncertainty, NASA kept its Moon mission under wraps. Flight Director Gene Kranz dubbed the possible flight ‘Mission X.’ No one who didn’t need to know about the plan was kept in the dark, and that certainly included the media.The details of Apollo 8’s mission came together fairly covertly as NASA prepared for Apollo 7’s flight. Many argued that it would be a waste of effort and resources to send astronauts all the way to the Moon just to have them whip around its far side and come home. NASA needed to learn about lunar orbit, so Apollo 8 would go into orbit. It would also make Apollo 8’s profile closer to a lunar landing mission profile. As a result, NASA would learn about such tricky things like tracking, guidance, and telemetry systems on lunar missions.Though the crew all had head colds, Apollo 7 went off without a hitch clearing Apollo 8 for a lunar flight. Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders launched on December 21. After a three day transit, the crew became the first men to orbit the Moon on Christmas Eve. The crew spent 20 hours in lunar orbit before beginning the three-day journey home on Christmas Day.
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