I’m a life-long aviation and space flight buff, and to me Apollo 8 was the most significant space mission ever–even more than the fabled Apollo 11. Landing on the moon, while certainly harrowing, is relatively easy. Getting there, however, is exceptionally hard, and Apollo 8 was the first manned flight to achieve that, 50 years ago this past Christmas.
It had so many extraordinary moments, too many to mention here. I can never forget the Christmas Eve telecast from lunar orbit, watching the lunar surface drift past as the crew described a “stark, foreboding” place, being visited by humans for the first time. If that was not enough, they closed by reading the opening lines of Genesis, and wished everyone “Good luck, Merry Christmas, and God bless you, all of you on the good earth.” It’s on YouTube, of course. You definitely should watch it. I do every few years or so, on Christmas Eve.
There is also a personal reason that I feel so connected to Apollo 8. Bill Anders and I both come from the same neighborhood outside San Diego. He’d been gone for 15 years when we arrived but I used to bicycle past the family’s house every day in high school. I even corresponded with him in the late 1990’s, and we exchanged memories of growing up there. So in 1968, when my family was eating dinner and watching that Christmas Eve’s telecast, we were only a couple of miles from where one of the crew members had grown up. I had always wanted to meet him, and the opportunity finally came a few weeks ago at the San Diego Air and Space Museum’s Celebration of Apollo 8.
And yet it was not the moon that became the ultimate focus of the Apollo 8 mission.
“We came to explore the Moon,” said Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders, “But we discovered the Earth.”
A few months earlier I had joined Carl Zeiss Vision, which gave me yet another connection with Bill Anders. He took his iconic photo “Earthrise” with a Zeiss 250 mm Sonnar telephoto lens. Before I left for the museum I asked our president, Jens Boy, what I could bring him as a token of appreciation. Jens and I had the same idea — “How about giving him some ZEISS Lens Wipes!”
It was – of course – a very small gift, but proved to be an excellent choice.
“I could have used these on Apollo 8!” said Anders with a smile and twinkle in his eyes.
Well, maybe so, but I think you and your crew mates did just fine, Mr. Anders, just fine.
Congratulations and thank you from all of us.
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Amazing!! Good job reporting, Dan!
Great!
Mr. Anders went to HBS with my father.
I would like to contact him.
Would it be possible to get his email?
Thanks so much!
If he has one I don’t have it, but I suggest writing to him c/o the museum he founded:
Heritage Flight Museum
4165 Mitchell Way, Bellingham, WA 98226
But he is not always been the fastest correspondent.
Hello,
I am a big Aviation history buff. My favorite plane is the XB-70A. Around 1982 Bill Anders worked for G.E. He came to the Wilmington Massachusetts plant for a visit. He allowed me to have lunch with him, one on one. We were totally alone in the room. He gave me 15 minutes. It was the thrill of a life time. I would like to write to Mr. Anders to just say hello. I am also a Cessna 172 pilot. VFR rated.