Apollo 8
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Apollo 8 was the first crewed spacecraft to leave Earth's gravitational sphere of influence, and the first human spaceflight to reach the Moon. The crew orbited the Moon ten times without landing and
Earthrise Taken from Apollo 8 by William Anders
Left to right: Anders, Lovell and BormanApollo program← Apollo 7Apollo 9 →
Apollo 8 space-flown silver Robbins medallion
The first stage of AS-503 being erected in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) on February 1, 1968
Apollo 9
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Apollo 9 was the third human spaceflight in NASA's Apollo program, which successfully tested systems and procedures critical to landing on the Moon. The three-man crew consisted of Commander James McD
Apollo 8
…its first flight. Astronaut Jim McDivitt's crew, who were training to fly the first Lunar Module flight in low Earth orbit, became the crew for the Apollo 9 mission, and Borman's crew were moved to the Apollo 8 mission. This left Borman's crew with two to three months' less training and preparation time…
CM pilot David Scott performs a stand-up EVA from CM Gumdrop, seen from docked LM Spider
Left to right: McDivitt, Scott, SchweickartApollo program← Apollo 8Apollo 10 →
Apollo 9 space-flown silver Robbins medallion
McDivitt, Scott, and Schweickart train for the AS-205/208 mission in the first Block II spacecraft and space suits, which still had most of the fire hazards the Apollo 1 spacecraft had.