1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,008 [ music ] 2 00:00:08,008 --> 00:00:10,410 On December 24th 1968, 3 00:00:10,410 --> 00:00:14,448 Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders 4 00:00:14,448 --> 00:00:16,917 became the first humans to orbit the Moon. 5 00:00:16,917 --> 00:00:21,321 and the first to witness the magnificent sight called "Earthrise." 6 00:00:21,321 --> 00:00:26,026 Now, we can see this historic event exactly as the astronauts saw it, 7 00:00:26,026 --> 00:00:31,265 thanks to new data from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO. 8 00:00:31,265 --> 00:00:37,104 LRO's superb global lunar maps, combined with the astronauts' own photographs, 9 00:00:37,104 --> 00:00:40,274 reveal where Apollo 8 was over the Moon, 10 00:00:40,274 --> 00:00:43,343 and even its precise orientation in space, 11 00:00:43,343 --> 00:00:48,248 when the astronauts first saw the Earth rising above the Moon's barren horizon. 12 00:00:48,248 --> 00:00:52,152 [ music ] 13 00:00:52,152 --> 00:00:56,223 It happened a few minutes after 10:30 am Houston time, 14 00:00:56,223 --> 00:01:01,662 as Apollo 8 was coming around from the far side of the Moon for the fourth time. 15 00:01:01,662 --> 00:01:04,698 Mission Commander Frank Borman was in the left-hand seat, 16 00:01:04,698 --> 00:01:08,502 preparing to turn the spacecraft to a new orientation 17 00:01:08,502 --> 00:01:10,337 according to the flight plan. 18 00:01:10,337 --> 00:01:14,675 Navigator Jim Lovell was in the spacecraft's lower equipment bay, 19 00:01:14,675 --> 00:01:19,346 about to make sightings on lunar landmarks with the onboard sextant, 20 00:01:19,346 --> 00:01:24,017 and Bill Anders was in the right-hand seat, observing the Moon through his side window, 21 00:01:24,017 --> 00:01:30,023 and taking pictures with a Hasselblad still camera, fitted with a 250-mm telephoto lens. 22 00:01:30,023 --> 00:01:36,830 Meanwhile, a second Hasselblad with an 80-mm lens was mounted in Borman's front-facing window, 23 00:01:36,830 --> 00:01:39,199 the so-called rendezvous window, 24 00:01:39,199 --> 00:01:42,102 photographing the Moon on an automatic timer: 25 00:01:42,102 --> 00:01:44,438 a new picture every twenty seconds. 26 00:01:44,438 --> 00:01:48,875 These photographs, matched with LRO's high-resolution terrain maps, 27 00:01:48,875 --> 00:01:53,347 show that Borman was still turning Apollo 8 when the Earth appeared. 28 00:01:53,347 --> 00:01:58,051 It was only because of the timing of this rotation that the Earthrise, 29 00:01:58,051 --> 00:02:03,323 which had happened on Apollo 8's three previous orbits, but was unseen by the astronauts, 30 00:02:03,323 --> 00:02:07,227 now came into view in Bill Anders's side window. 31 00:02:07,227 --> 00:02:13,333 Here's what it looked like, as recreated from LRO data by Goddard's Scientific Visualization Studio. 32 00:02:13,333 --> 00:02:18,839 You'll hear the astronauts' voices as captured by Apollo 8's onboard tape recorder, 33 00:02:18,839 --> 00:02:22,743 beginning with Frank Borman announcing the start of the roll maneuver, 34 00:02:22,743 --> 00:02:28,048 and you'll see the rising Earth move from one window to another as Apollo 8 turns. 35 00:02:30,017 --> 00:02:36,623 Borman: All right, we're gonna roll. 36 00:02:36,623 --> 00:02:40,027 Ready... 37 00:02:40,027 --> 00:02:49,036 Set... 38 00:02:49,036 --> 00:02:58,045 Anders: The impact crater with uh - at uh - just prior to the subsolar point on the south side, in the floor of it, uh, 39 00:02:58,045 --> 00:03:03,984 [unintelligible], there is one dark hole. 40 00:03:03,984 --> 00:03:33,847 But I couldn't get a quick enough look at it to see if it might be anything volcanic 41 00:03:33,847 --> 00:03:40,854 Anders: Oh my God, look at that picture over there! There's the Earth comin' up. Wow, is that pretty! 42 00:03:40,854 --> 00:03:45,358 Borman: Hey don't take that, it's not scheduled. 43 00:03:45,358 --> 00:03:47,260 [shutter click] 44 00:03:47,260 --> 00:03:51,031 Anders: You got a color film, Jim? Hand me a roll of color, quick, would you? 45 00:03:51,031 --> 00:03:51,998 Lovell: Oh man, that's great. Lovell: Where is it? 46 00:03:51,998 --> 00:03:59,206 Anders: Hurry. Quick. 47 00:03:59,206 --> 00:03:59,973 Lovell: Down here? 48 00:03:59,973 --> 00:04:09,983 Anders: Just grab me a color. A color exterior. Hurry up. 49 00:04:09,983 --> 00:04:11,885 Anders: Got one? 50 00:04:11,885 --> 00:04:15,322 Lovell: Yeah, I'm looking' for one. C 368. 51 00:04:15,322 --> 00:04:17,724 Anders: Anything. Quick. 52 00:04:17,724 --> 00:04:22,629 Lovell: Here. 53 00:04:22,629 --> 00:04:36,042 Anders: Well, I think we missed it. 54 00:04:36,042 --> 00:04:37,711 Lovell: Hey, I got it right here. 55 00:04:37,711 --> 00:04:40,814 Anders: Let me get it out this one, it's a lot clearer. 56 00:04:40,814 --> 00:04:42,482 [shutter click] 57 00:04:42,482 --> 00:04:45,685 Lovell: Bill, I got it framed, it's very clear right here! 58 00:04:45,685 --> 00:04:46,086 Lovell: Got it? 59 00:04:46,086 --> 00:04:47,287 Anders: Yep. 60 00:04:47,287 --> 00:04:49,623 Lovell: Take several, take several of 'em! Here, give it to me! 61 00:04:49,623 --> 00:04:51,558 Anders: Wait a minute, just let me get the right setting here now, just calm down. 62 00:04:51,558 --> 00:04:51,625 Lovell: Take - 63 00:04:51,625 --> 00:04:53,393 Anders: Calm down, Lovell! 64 00:04:53,393 --> 00:04:56,363 Lovell: Well, I got it right - aw, that's a beautiful shot‚ 65 00:04:59,299 --> 00:05:02,969 Two-fifty at f/11. 66 00:05:09,409 --> 00:05:11,645 [shutter click] 67 00:05:11,645 --> 00:05:12,812 Anders: Okay. 68 00:05:12,812 --> 00:05:14,814 Lovell: Now vary-vary the exposure a little bit. 69 00:05:14,814 --> 00:05:16,216 Anders: I did, I took two of 'em here. 70 00:05:16,216 --> 00:05:17,450 Lovell: You sure you got it now? 71 00:05:17,450 --> 00:05:20,453 Anders: Yeah, we'll get - well, it'll come up again, I think. 72 00:05:20,453 --> 00:05:22,322 [ music ] 73 00:05:22,322 --> 00:05:27,994 For the astronauts, seeing the Earthrise was an unexpected and electrifying experience, 74 00:05:27,994 --> 00:05:34,000 and one of the three photographs taken by Bill Anders became an iconic image of the 20th century. 75 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:39,239 In 2018, the International Astronomical Union commemorated the event 76 00:05:39,239 --> 00:05:44,444 by naming a 25 mile diameter crater . "Anders' Earthrise". 77 00:05:44,444 --> 00:05:49,015 A smaller crater was given the name, "Eight Homeward". 78 00:05:49,015 --> 00:05:53,153 Both craters are visible in the iconic Earthrise photograph. 79 00:05:53,153 --> 00:05:56,756 I'm Andrew Chaikin, author of "A Man on the Moon." 80 00:05:56,756 --> 00:06:33,393 [ music ] 81 00:06:33,393 --> 00:00:00,000 [Satellite passing by: Beeping rhythmically]