On December twenty-fourth, the astronauts made a television broadcast to Earth. They described the moon's surface as a strange, gray, lonely place. And, as they talked, people on Earth could see pictures of the moon on their television sets.
FRANK BORMAN: "And from the crew of Apollo Eight, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas – and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth."
Apollo Eight returned to Earth without problems. It landed in the Pacific Ocean near a waiting ship.
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STEVE EMBER: Apollo Eight showed that humans could travel to the moon and return safely. The next step was to test the lunar landing craft.
That was the job of the astronauts of Apollo Nine: James McDivitt, David Scott and Russell Schweickart. They spent ten days in Earth orbit during March, nineteen sixty-nine.
During the flight, they separated the lunar lander from the command module and flew it for eight hours. They tested all its systems. Then, they joined the two spacecraft together again, just as astronauts would do after a moon landing.
Engineers decided that after Apollo Nine, one more test flight was needed. They wanted to test the landing module near the moon. So astronauts Tom Stafford, John Young and Eugene Cernan did that during the flight of Apollo Ten.
BARBARA KLEIN: They reached the moon in May, nineteen sixty-nine. Astronauts Stafford and Cernan entered the landing craft and separated it from the command ship. Stafford and Cernan flew the lander down to only thirteen kilometers from the moon. They described the moon during a radio and television broadcast. "It is like wet clay," they said. "Like a dry river bed in New Mexico or Arizona. It is a beautiful sight."
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25