Blue Dot continues its look back at the 50th anniversary of the Apollo program with a look at the very first mission to the Moon -- Apollo 8.
Considered by most space historians as the most dramatic and bold mission of the entire lunar program, astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders became the first human beings to leave ride the powerful Saturn V rocket, leave Earth's gravitational well and see the backside of the Moon with their own eyes.
That the mission took place at the end of a disastrous year for the United States added to the drama. In 1968, the Viet Nam war took a turn for the worst, Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy were both assassinated and the Democratic National Convention in Chicago descended into chaos and violent protest.
But then at the end of the year, Apollo 8 circled the Moon at Christmas time, giving Americans something to at last cheer about.