First space mission to the moon recounted in new book

At the end of one of the most divisive years in America's short history, a year when thousands of Americans died in Vietnam, two great leaders were gunned down and rioters filled the streets outside the Democratic National Convention, three men calmly read a Bible passage to one-third of the planet.

Taking turns reading from the Book of Genesis, the astronauts' words spoken live from space seemed to calm, at least momentarily, a restive Earth.

Overshadowed by the Apollo 11 moon landing and Apollo 13's near calamity, Apollo 8 is best known for the stunning "Earthrise" photo shot from the space capsule's window and the Christmas Eve broadcast half a century ago.

But the Apollo 8 crew — Milwaukee native James Lovell, Frank Borman and William Anders — were the first humans to travel to Earth's most ancient companion, the moon. Though they did not land and get moon dust on their boots, their mission was risky and critical to America's eventual fulfillment of President John F. Kennedy's vow to land an American on the moon by the end of the 1960s.

In some ways, Apollo 8 has never gotten the respect as the literal trailblazer that led directly to Neil Armstrong's first step.

"They were taking a huge risk. It was a true odyssey in the Homeric sense," said Robert Kurson, whose book "Rocket Men: The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man's First Journey to the Moon" was published last month.

Kurson, 55, earned a degree in philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1986 and lives in Evanston, Ill. He's speaking at Boswell Books in Milwaukee on Tuesday.

Apollo 8 was not supposed to go to the moon. It was only scheduled to orbit the Earth. But four months before liftoff everything changed when the CIA learned the Soviets were planning a lunar fly-by before the end of 1968. And at its heart, the space race was a way to one up America's chief rival, the Soviet Union.

When Deke Slayton, the Wisconsin native and dean of astronauts, asked Apollo 8 commander Borman point blank in August 1968 if he wanted to go to the moon, Borman didn't hesitate. He didn't bother to ask his family or his crew. He just said yes, even though America was not ready to head to the moon.

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There were big problems with the design of the lunar lander, which also acted as a lifeboat in case something went wrong with the command module. On Apollo 13, the lunar lander was indeed used as a life raft. NASA decided to not just go to the moon on Apollo 8 but orbit around it and do it without the lunar module.

By the time Apollo 8 lifted off, the three-stage liquid-fueled Saturn V rocket designed to propel astronauts into space had only been launched twice, and never with people aboard.

"When Apollo 8 went to the moon, everything we did was for the first time. Nobody knew if it could be done," said Kurson.

Lovell, a graduate of Milwaukee’s Juneau High School, was Apollo 8’s command module pilot and in charge of navigation. Lovell and Borman had already flown together, spending almost two weeks in space in Gemini 7 in 1965. Their second trip in space together would be in late December, which meant two of the live broadcasts would occur on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

NASA officials didn’t tell Borman what to say on that Christmas Eve telecast, only that it should be something appropriate. The crew decided on a passage from the first book of the bible, packing with their gear the first 10 verses printed on flame-resistant paper. No one knew in advance — not the crews’ wives, not NASA honchos, not broadcaster Walter Cronkite — that they would read the first lines of Genesis outlining the creation of Earth.

When they finished, Borman signed off the Christmas Eve telecast, "And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas — and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth."

“They ultimately chose something so perfect, especially at the end of this terrible year. This is the first time mankind is looking back at itself,” Kurson said. “When they read from Genesis, it connects with everybody.”

While researching his book, Kurson had unprecedented access to all three astronauts and their families as well as key NASA officials who vividly shared their recollections from 50 years ago. Borman and Lovell are now 90 and Anders is 84. All three are still married to their wives, a rarity for 1960s astronauts.

Kurson lives 20 minutes from Lovell and emailed him a few years ago to see if he would participate in a book about Apollo 8. Lovell wrote back that he was a fan of Kurson’s 2004 book “Shadow Divers” — which Kurson called “one of the greatest honors I’ve experienced” — and graciously introduced the author to the other astronauts.

Kurson recounts the story of the Earthrise color photo that would be pictured in publications around the world and end up on a U.S. postage stamp.

Lovell, Borman and Anders were given Hasselblad cameras and trained to take photos of the moon to help future Apollo missions figure out where to land. But on their fourth orbit, the spacecraft was oriented in such a way that the astronauts could see their home. Looking out the portholes, they gaped at the sapphire-colored planet far in the distance. Anders snapped perhaps one of the most significant photos ever taken.

“All three spoke to me at length at what that meant to see that, how moved they were. Everything they loved was on that tiny blue marble. At that distance, they couldn’t see war or hate or division, all they saw was one lifeboat where we all existed and needed each other,” said Kurson. 

“Bill Anders told me, here they had come all this way to discover the moon and what they really discovered was the Earth.”

If you go

Robert Kurson will visit Boswell Books, 2559 N. Downer Ave., Milwaukee, at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 22, to talk about "Rocket Men: The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man's First Journey to the Moon." For more information go to boswellbooks.com