Good morning.
Friday brings a day of blowing snow and a high of twenty-four to Whitewater.
On this day in 1968, America launched the first manned mission to another world:
Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon, is successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell, Jr., and William Anders aboard.
On Christmas Eve, the astronauts entered into orbit around the moon, the first manned spacecraft ever to do so. During Apollo 8‘s 10 lunar orbits, television images were sent back home, and spectacular photos were taken of Earth and the moon from the spacecraft. In addition to being the first human beings to view firsthand their home world in its entirety, the three astronauts were also the first to see the dark side of the moon.
On Christmas morning, Apollo 8 left its lunar orbit and began its journey back to Earth, landing safely in the Pacific Ocean on December 27. On July 20 of the next year, Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, astronauts of the Apollo 11mission, became the first men to walk on the moon.
Orbiting alone was a huge accomplishment. Here’s their Christmas message while in orbit, with the moon visible from the capsule:
Google’s daily puzzle asks about art: “Which of Ivan Albright’s paintings features a panel that can be seen as both an opening and a final closure, accented with a bouquet of flowers?”