My recollection of the Apollo 8 flight to the Moon

I captured this image from our television during the recovery of Apollo 8 in December, 1968. From left to right it shows astronauts, Borman, Anders, and Lovell. Photo Credit: Mine


A Televised View Of The Moon From Lunar Orbit	Astronauts On The Deck Of The USS Yorktown

Astronauts On The Deck Of The USS Yorktown	Astronauts On The Deck Of The USS Yorktown

Saturday : December 21, 1968

I am 10 years old. I am in the fourth grade in school. I am lucky this week, because we are out of school for Christmas.

Today was a really neat day. I saw a rocket take off for the Moon on TV. It was so exciting, I wish I could have been there.

My teacher told me in school about a nephew of hers that had taken pictures off of the TV with a camera during Robert Kennedy's funeral. She said that the pictures even came out when they were developed!

That really got me thinking. I wanted to try and see if I could take some pictures of the Apollo 8 mission. I talked my grandma into letting me use an old Kodak box camera that she had. I then talked my parents into buying me a roll of black and white 620 film for the camera. I only needed black and white, because I was going to take pictures of a black and white television.

I never got to use a camera before. This was really new for me. It was a little hard to see what I was taking a picture of. The camera sort of had a mirror like a periscope that you had to look through.

I took a picture of the Saturn V after it launched. I would be really neat if these photos turn out.

Tuesday: December 24, 1968

Oh, I am so excited today, I could just explode. It is Christmas Eve, the night that my Christmas presents will arrive.

We actually have a real tree set up inside of the house. Christmas trees are so neat. They have all different colored lights and balls with a silver star on top. Our star is pretty simple, my grandma made it out of tin foil and cardboard. I love Christmas.

Tonight was really exciting too, because Apollo 8 got to the Moon. Wow, I cannot believe that there are actually men flying around up there. The news interrupted the regular TV programs for the broadcast from space. They showed us what it was like to be there on TV. It was a black and white picture but they told us about the colors that they saw. One of the astronauts said it looked like the sand on a beach. Boy, were there a lot of craters.

The astronauts took turns reading from the Bible. They wished us a Merry Christmas. I hope they are having a Merry Christmas up there too.

I took another picture of the TV with my camera. This one shows the craters on the Moon.

Friday: December 27, 1968

It sure is fun not having to go to school. I'm having a great time playing with all of my Christmas presents. I wish every day was Christmas.

The news this week has been all about the Apollo 8 crew that went to the Moon. It seems like every TV channel you turn on is talking about it. Okay, so we only get three TV channels, but it's still pretty exciting.

The spaceship splashed down today. Of course I wanted to watch it on TV. I sat in front of the TV so that I could take more pictures of it with my camera. They showed the astronauts in their white space clothes after the got out of the helicopter on the aircraft carrier. It must be really neat to be an astronaut. I wish I could be an astronaut.

I took several pictures of the crew while the sailors were congratulating them.

January 1969

I finally got my pictures back that I took of the TV. We took my film to the drug store in town to get it developed. It seemed like it took a long time for the pictures to come back. When we picked up the developed film, they put it in a white paper sack.

I couldn't wait until I opened that package. When I did open it, would you believe that my pictures came out? I had a picture of the Saturn V rocket during. I had a picture of craters on the Moon. Having these photos from the TV is really exciting for me.

I can't wait until I take my pictures into school to show my teacher.