Model Aircrafts and Ships

Apollo 8 Splashes down in the Pacific Ocean, Ending Humanity’s First Manned Mission to the Moon

The Apollo program is definitely considered one of the most famous American history of the world. The program represents the very first time a human being sets foot on an extraterrestrial mass of land.

Apollo 8 was the first among the Apollo series which have successfully orbit the moon, and the first manned spacecraft to leave Earth’s gravity and reach the moon. On December 27, 1968, a tragic event happened. Apollo 8 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, after a mission elapsed time of 147 hrs, 0 mins, 42 sec. The splashdown point was 8 degrees 7.5 min N, 165 degrees 1.2 min W, 1,000 miles SSW of Hawaii and 5 km (3mi) from the recovery ship U.S.S. Yorktown.

It was really fortunate that the spacecraft achieved operational experience and testing of the Apollo command module systems such as communications, tracking and life-support. Otherwise, history might just repeat itself. Remember the Apollo 1 tragedy that happened in January 27, 1967? It was considered one of the worst tragedies in spaceflight history wherein the spacecraft’s crews, Edward White, Roger Chaffee and Virgil Grissom were killed in the process in a fire inside the Apollo Command Module during a preflight test at Cape Canaveral. It was concluded that failure in communication was the culprit. The crews suffered from serious burns and massive smoke inhalation which caused their sudden deaths.

Since then, changes had been made to the Apollo Command Module as a result of the tragedy and which in turn, resulted in many highly reliable spacecrafts including the Apollo 8.

The Apollo 8 Command Module currently resides at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, Illinois.

About the Author:
Jules Elgincolin, is a copy writer of Warplanes.com