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  Photo of the week 738 (December 15, 2018)

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Author Topic:   Photo of the week 738 (December 15, 2018)
heng44
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Posts: 3387
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001

posted 12-15-2018 03:24 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for heng44   Click Here to Email heng44     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote

Half a century ago this week, Apollo 8 stood ready on Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center as NASA was preparing to launch the first manned flight to the moon.

Philip
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Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001

posted 12-15-2018 04:03 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Philip   Click Here to Email Philip     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
What a view!

Ian Limbrey
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Posts: 124
From: England
Registered: Nov 2012

posted 12-15-2018 04:05 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Ian Limbrey   Click Here to Email Ian Limbrey     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Beautiful shot and obviously very appropriate come next Friday. I was a 14 year old at the time and remembered watching the launch live on the BBC and this began my interest into space exploration.

Rick Mulheirn
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Posts: 4167
From: England
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 12-15-2018 05:50 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Rick Mulheirn   Click Here to Email Rick Mulheirn     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
An iconic image. Thanks Ed!

Ken Havekotte
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Posts: 2915
From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard
Registered: Mar 2001

posted 12-15-2018 06:28 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Ken Havekotte   Click Here to Email Ken Havekotte     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Wow, what a shot! I was only 12 years old when Apollo 8 went to the moon and saw the launch of that mighty Saturn V moon rocket from my own backyard on Merritt Island, FL. It was my first "live" liftoff witness of an Apollo/Saturn V and I still remember it like it was yesterday.

Kite
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Posts: 831
From: Northampton UK
Registered: Nov 2009

posted 12-15-2018 06:47 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Kite     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Great picture. Wish I could say I was only 12 or 14 but was 21 and always remember an old gentleman saying to me that they would never come back. So glad he was wrong. Exciting times.

Fra Mauro
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Posts: 1587
From: Bethpage, N.Y.
Registered: Jul 2002

posted 12-15-2018 07:33 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Fra Mauro   Click Here to Email Fra Mauro     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Breathtaking! I was a boy back then, I still have the TV guide from that week.

SPACEFACTS
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Posts: 301
From: Germany
Registered: Aug 2006

posted 12-15-2018 07:38 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for SPACEFACTS   Click Here to Email SPACEFACTS     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Thanks Ed. It was the beginning of my interest in space exploration. At this time I was 13 years old.

heng44
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Posts: 3387
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001

posted 12-15-2018 07:53 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for heng44   Click Here to Email heng44     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Looks like we have much in common. I was 12 years old in 1968 and my interest in spaceflight literally started the day Apollo 8 launched. Half a century ago this coming Friday.

randy
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Posts: 2176
From: West Jordan, Utah USA
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 12-15-2018 08:18 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for randy   Click Here to Email randy     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Great shot! I had just turned 13 and had my face plastered to the tv screen when they did the live broadcast on Dec. 24. What really fascinated me were the views of the far side. That was incredible!

East-Frisian
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Posts: 586
From: Germany
Registered: Apr 2005

posted 12-15-2018 08:43 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for East-Frisian     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Looks like artwork. Beautiful colours.

Richard Easton
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Posts: 175
From: Winnetka, IL USA
Registered: Jun 2006

posted 12-15-2018 09:58 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Richard Easton     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Thank you for posting another great picture. I was thirteen when Apollo 8 was launched. My Dad designed Vanguard 1 so Iā€™d been interested in space for a long tome. But Apollo 8 and 11 were especially exciting to me.

Steven Kaplan
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Posts: 140
From: New Jersey
Registered: Jul 2001

posted 12-15-2018 12:14 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Steven Kaplan   Click Here to Email Steven Kaplan     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Interesting how an iconic photo can elicit such strong emotions and memories in so many of us. I was 11 at the time and echoing Ken, remember it like it was yesterday.

ManInSpace
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Posts: 114
From: Brooklin, Ontario Canada
Registered: Feb 2018

posted 12-15-2018 03:59 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for ManInSpace     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
A lot of memories. Thanks yet again, Ed.

ejectr
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Posts: 1751
From: Killingly, CT
Registered: Mar 2002

posted 12-15-2018 05:01 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for ejectr   Click Here to Email ejectr     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I was in the US Navy when I saw this launch. Little did I know what was ahead. Brings back old memories.

Thanks, Ed...

star51L
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Posts: 340
From: Vilano Beach, FL, USA
Registered: Aug 2002

posted 12-15-2018 05:05 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for star51L   Click Here to Email star51L     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Thank you Ed. My uncle lived in Titusville and was employed by Bendix, a NASA contractor. We were spending Christmas at his home with his family and attending the launch started my lifelong fascination with spaceflight.

I was 10 years old when Apollo 8 launched. My first attended launch, I don't remember exactly where we were on the river but I do strongly recall the bright flame at ignition, the eerie silence as the rocket rose and finally the shock waves pounding once they reached us. In my opinion, the most magical spaceflight of them all.

I'll likely relive the flight later this week through Lunar Module 5's full mission links on YouTube, which are fascinating.

PowerCat
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Posts: 193
From: Herington, KS, USA
Registered: Feb 2006

posted 12-15-2018 05:53 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for PowerCat   Click Here to Email PowerCat     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Looks like I'll be the baby of the replies....I was a whopping 4 years old for Apollo 8. Awesome prelaunch photo. Can't believe it's been 50 years now.

Delta7
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Posts: 1505
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007

posted 12-15-2018 06:01 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Delta7   Click Here to Email Delta7     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Truly the most beautiful rocket ever built. Majestic.

Tom
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Posts: 1597
From: New York
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 12-15-2018 06:13 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Tom   Click Here to Email Tom     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Beautiful shot, Ed. The most exciting period in our space program's history!

tlifan2
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Posts: 38
From: Lawrenceville, GA 30043
Registered: Feb 2014

posted 12-15-2018 07:34 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for tlifan2   Click Here to Email tlifan2     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I was thirteen as well. My first launch ā€” spent Friday night sleeping in the car parked across from the badging station on the Nasa causeway. I have a polaroid photo that my dad took of me with the VAB in the background taken on the morning of the launch. My grandson (who ironically is also thirteen) and I will recreate the photo on the 21st of this year ā€” exactly fifty years later.

Thanks for the photo.

Ronpur
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Posts: 1211
From: Brandon, Fl
Registered: May 2012

posted 12-17-2018 11:04 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Ronpur   Click Here to Email Ronpur     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I was 5, but I can barely remember anything about Apollo 8. Apollo 9 and the rest, I remember well.

Jonnyed
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Posts: 396
From: Dumfries, VA, USA
Registered: Aug 2014

posted 12-17-2018 09:02 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Jonnyed   Click Here to Email Jonnyed     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
What was great about Apollo 8 too was that it was such a positive, majestic step forward for our country during a really tough time.

1968 was a terrible year in terms of the MLKjr assassination in April, rioting and burning in Washington DC afterwards, the Bobby Kennedy killing in June, the awful war problems in SE Asia, the Chicago riots at the Democratic Convention that fall. It truly felt like society was coming apart at the seams.

And then Apollo 8 comes along at the end of the year and reaffirmed so many terrific almost unimaginable things about what we can do together.

AP8 was a fantastic reminder that there was reason to have hope in the future despite all the societal woes of the late 60s.

I was only 5 and 1/2 but I remember thinking that those 3 astronauts were the bravest men ever. My family was a church-going crew so the Christmas connection is something my dad and mom highlighted for us too.

moorouge
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Posts: 2454
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009

posted 12-18-2018 01:43 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for moorouge   Click Here to Email moorouge     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by PowerCat:
Looks like I'll be the baby of the replies... I was a whopping 4 years old for Apollo 8.
Seems I might be the grandpa then - was 31 when Apollo 8 was launched. Many years later had the pleasure of having breakfast with Jim Lovell and his wife to mull over this event.

Jonnyed
Member

Posts: 396
From: Dumfries, VA, USA
Registered: Aug 2014

posted 12-18-2018 08:24 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Jonnyed   Click Here to Email Jonnyed     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Delta7:
Truly the most beautiful rocket ever built. Majestic.
Another fun thing to think about is that we went from the Wright Brothers' first powered flyer in December 1903 to this beautiful machine on the launch pad to the moon in December 1968... it took only 65 years!

Mind-blowing, really.

How cool if the Brothers could have lived to see it?!

astro-nut
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Posts: 946
From: Washington, IL
Registered: Jan 2006

posted 02-08-2019 01:54 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for astro-nut   Click Here to Email astro-nut     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Majestic! Just beautiful! I could stand there all night and look at it!!

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