An Evening with the Apollo 8 Astronauts (Annual John H. Glenn Lecture Series)

In late December 1968, the Apollo 8 crew of Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders became the first humans to leave Earth and journey to another world. They spent 20 hours orbiting the Moon, and then made the flight back home.
In lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, the crew delivered to a world audience a moving TV broadcast in which they read from the Book of Genesis. During the mission, the three astronauts witnessed something no other human had ever seen--Earth rising over the lunar surface. Captured on camera, this image has become one of the most well-known of the last forty years.
Apollo 8's success paved the way for Apollo 11, the first human landing on the Moon.
All three astronauts shared stories about their careers and the Apollo 8 mission in this program, recorded on November 13, 2008, at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.
This event is made possible by the generous support of The Boeing Company.

[@pauljw7697]

I commented on a prior YT video on Apollo 8. I was 11 in 1968 when Apollo 8 circled the moon. It was X-mas eve & the family was all gathered at the grandparents house. 5 of us plus 3 spouses & 13 grandkids. We would exchange Xmas presents & then head to midnight mass. Me & many others were laying on living room floor watching the live broadcast of Apollo 8. Their reading of Genesis from the Bible sent chills down our spines as we laid there listening to the astronauts recite it. It still does that today when I watch the video here on KZbin. I am so thankful the Apollo crew are still with us today. They will live forever in my heart & mind.

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

Anders: It's much better to die than to screw up. Borman: It's true

[@texasforever7887]

Lol would only be better if they would then both stare at Lovell😁

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

@@texasforever7887 Lovell never screwed up ... they're not mean guys that way. Now Schirra and Eisele, THEY screwed up ...

[@texasforever7887]

@@RideAcrossTheRiver yes but that is why it is funny. If he actually screwed up then it would be mean.

[@rossreed9974]

I was 5 when Apollo 8 launched and these guys are absolute heroes. Youngsters out there: watch and learn, you won't find many other role models like them! I also come back to watch this at times, and never get tired of seeing this.

[@slingshot1961]

Three great men who risked everything for their country. The pride we felt back when they launched Apollo cannot be conveyed to later generations through speech alone. You had to be alive during those times. This was the finest work the United States achieved because we were truly united back then.

[@smeeself]

1968 was one of the most conflicted and divisive years in 20th century USA history. That does not diminish this remarkable feat in any way.

[@texasforever7887]

People think we are divided now but compared to the late 1960 we are just Siblings fighting over the TV remote to their daily pipe bombings, spread across the country, the never ending Vietnam war at that time, the military draft, what seemed like monthly political assassinations and very real racism at the time.

[@TheDurentator2000]

My right ear really enjoyed this

[@smiddy0000]

I started watching on my right ear on pc with my headset, now continued on telephone wich have one speaker anyway 😉

[@andrewscott9610]

What great friendship they still have all these years later!!

[@retrocny5625]

This really deserves more views. What an incredible sit down with these gentlemen. I've watched it numerous times now, always seem to come back to it after some time has passed and it's been an amazing watch & listen each time.

[@yves2348]

People, even entire nations, tend to forget extraordinary men once the news media cools down around them. It´s sad as this flight, for example, is absolutely world history. Yet these days so many never even have heard of e.g. Frank Borman in the USA. I do, as an european 60+ space boy. These are important names to be thought in history lessons. Compare this to Russia for example, everyone knows who Gagarin, Tereshkova, Leonov is. They do know their history.

[@buckshot704]

The shared respect, superb intelligence, and comradely humor of these three gentlemen is amazing.

[@MarvelousLXVII]

Awesome guys! True American heroes. The levity between Borman and Anders is priceless.

[@evelynmoore2613]

I love the way Bill Anders speaks in similes - makes everything so vivid.

[@danmaltby3271]

Sure wish I could meet Frank Borman, tough ol bird, no BS.

[@tarful58]

I would love to meet the Apollo 8 astronauts!! Just to shake their hands would be a life experience!!!!

[@edwardvanvalkenburgh2828]

I've met Lovell, Shepard and Bean. Always regret I never met Conrad

[@kakelso]

I once shook Lovell's hand and had a picture taken with him, but I never got a copy of the picture! Huge regret of mine!

[@jmjaxson]

Frank Borman....always giving credit where credit is due along with sincere honesty. Mr. Borman was very instrumental and overseen the redesign of the command module after the Apollo One fire. Whenever these three get together there's always a constant smile on my face during the whole time.

[@slysparkane808]

Frank Borman is a riot!

[@pedrodiaz5540]

Lovell will always be numero 1

[@TheCream14]

My favorite space mission. Such a great advancement for us little humans in this great, big universe.

[@user-ri9hb6th1w]

Thes guys are hilarious! I love listening to them and how normal they treat all this stuff they did .... I would rather have been alive during this ear than being born after this happened .

[@CaribSurfKing1]

The funniest crew of them all, Apollo 12 a close second!

[@chucklesdaklown5777]

Fantastic group of hero's !!!! Wish Lovell would have made it to the lunar surface !!!!

[@joepage3065]

Great lecture and a real pleasure to hear it directly from the Apollo 8 crew.

[@garyhillman4993]

All actors. Masonic liars every one of them

[@machia-mw1lm]

America's finest . What a generation .

[@coreyglasssr6240]

Never gets old hearing this awesome guys talk about their experiences and especially them mentioning Huntsville Alabama and Marshall Space Flight Center. Makes being from Huntsville a lot cooler lol.

[@catmom2509]

Only one other Apollo mission flew before this one (which was in earth orbit ) with the reengineered command module and Apollo 8 would be the first crewed flight to use the Saturn V rocket. To quote John Glenn, "Reportedly even the Apollo 8 astronauts rated their chance of success at no better than 50/50, but they were willing to go." Knowing they were being asked to take an enormous risk, these astronauts went to the moon (and successfully). Talk about balls of steel.

[@alisonrogerson3143]

Totally entertaining in every way. To hear about their amazing experiences and all presented with so many laughs. They are such funny & clever guys. I was only about 7 but I recall it all being on tv. It was a great time to live in every way.

[@warp13]

Great video-thank you for posting.

[@kelmo9398]

This is just a wonderful lecture series. I come back to enjoy it every once in a while. Please keep it here.

[@tiamatxvxianash9202]

This was priceless. Them talking about the "Giants" of those days; George Low, Chris Kraft and others. And no bureaucracy and oversight that would eventually critically weaken NASA's future potential.

[@MrVikingsandra]

I'm reading A Man on the Moon and integrating with this video. I've got goosebumps, so epic! I could listen to these man for hours.

[@Aviyaytor]

Thank you for posting this! I love the story of Apollo 8 as told from the crew who flew it. Met John and Annie Glenn once, and they were very down to earth (pun intended) people. A wonderful snapshot of history immortalized on video. Again, thank you!

[@wolfgangholtzclaw2637]

wonderful lectures

[@KevinWRay]

AWESOME!!!!!

[@thomasthomas2418]

Mike Collins once said, "A Saturn V wouldn't DARE blow up under Frank Borman!" Frank Borman is a one-of-a-kind American hero. Without him, we would never have gotten beyond the Apollo 1 fire.

[@texasforever7887]

NASA wouldn't dare blow up Borman. Because Ms. Borman struck fear in all. I adore her constant disapproval of Lovell in interviews.

[@eventcone]

@@texasforever7887 Disapproval of Lovell? What was that about?

[@texasforever7887]

@@eventcone if you watch certain documentaries on Apollo 8 every time Lovell is playing or joking around such as when he says Houston there is a Santa Claus, her disapproval is clearly seen. She clearly only tolerated him because Borman and him were best buds despite opposite personalities. Personally I believe that it mostly came down to she understood how dangerous what they were doing and felt Lovell increased that danger putting her husband at risk. They offered Bornan Apollo 11 but she would have killed him if he accepted it.

[@fractalnomics]

Watching 2018 12 26. Great stuff.

[@heythere135]

Rest in peace Bill Anders. You will be missed 🚀

[@igorflexus9493]

The first humans to leave earth.

[@MPYarnall]

No, first to leave Earths influence...

[@chatteyj]

Matt Not really as the moon is under earths influence, so may as well just say the first humans to leave the earth.

[@corneliuscrewe8165]

...of all things to argue semantics over.

[@texasforever7887]

They were the first to go into actual space outside of Earth's atmosphere. Apollo 17 was the last and we have not been back to space sense.

[@garyhillman4993]

Way way way after the Russians. They d had men women and animals up there years before the US

[@edwardloomis887]

Borman was a West Pointer. When America needs leaders, it goes up the Hudson to West Point.

[@allgood6760]

Astronauts are gods! 👍

[@Zoomer30]

I bet Frank wanted to kill the person who decided that an astronaut should eat a big juicy steak for breakfast right before getting into the ship. Not something you want to see in regurgitated replay.

[@Zoomer30]

So, I wonder where Borman comes in on the Garn Scale?

[@maximilliancunningham6091]

These people among others are why the free world looked looked to America with love, respect and admiration. Don't let this legacy, be for not.

[@GH-oi2jf]

naught

[@gheilers]

Neal Armstrong, Frank Borman, James McDivitt - my choices for our finest astronauts. They were apparently so impressive, that NASA chose them as mission commanders on their rookie flights.

[@stevelelliott3083]

Greg Heilers Jim Lovell sits above them all for me

[@garyhillman4993]

There all great actors

[@eliadespastor4305]

That should be 400,000 individuals contributed to the flight most American but also Canadian and British and German of course!

[@juanee2]

Well, yeah... you can include, for example, the NASA Deep Space Network with other people of other nationalities supporting the program. But obviously, the vast majority were Americans.

[@texasforever7887]

And paid for by the Americans

[@armandomacias6619]

They say Pet Conrad was a hoot also.

[@mightysaturn5133]

lol, such a great video

[@pismo10]

Love hearing them making fun of the mindless bureaucracy in America today. Great to see them subtly pointing out how damaging it is.

[@hyperthreaded]

Great video, but: 1. restore the left audio channel (just copy the right one if nothing else works) 2. upload the whole thing! The last audience questions have been cut o

[@weebgrinder]

Isn't it the right channel that's quiet or missing? Your headphones might be on backwards

[@hyperthreaded]

@@weebgrinder No, I think yours are on backwards :)

[@weebgrinder]

@@hyperthreaded they're so cheap maybe they were made backwards

[@texasforever7887]

Its totally the left one that is missing.

[@josch614]

L channel was for the flight directors loop...

[@user-vb1xy3kc3o]

Absolute legends. And to think there are people who still think it was all faked. How could they make tthis up ?

[@garyhillman4993]

Quiete easily. Ask Paul mcartney he s just spilled the beans he s been playing PM for 58 years. Masonic lies. There good at them

[@dicksatan6444]

@@garyhillman4993 This much is true: All conspiratorial deniers are horrible spellers.

[@beargreasebrigade]

they can send a man to the moon but cant get the audio right

[@MPYarnall]

Uhm, yeaa....so?

[@pleasepermitmetospeakohgre1504]

@@MPYarnall It exposes their supposed 'technical know how'.

[@smeeself]

@@pleasepermitmetospeakohgre1504 Nutter

[@garyhillman4993]

They can’t even send a man to the moon now never mind them Wake up. NASA means to deceive

[@jkovert]

Reading Genesis 1:1-10 must have really hacked off the Soviets.

[@BenEtherington]

Not to mention the billions of other non-Christians.

[@jkovert]

Ben Etherington Well, tough shit. We Western, American Christians went to the moon. We paid for it, planned it, designed it, engineered it, and executed it. We owe "the billions of other non-Christians" exactly SQUAT.

[@BenEtherington]

J William Pope VEVO haha and the earth-moon barycenter is smack in the middle of Texas, too, I'll bet?

[@jkovert]

Ben Etherington You sound historically and culturally illiterate.

[@BenEtherington]

J William Pope VEVO Join me in a little country western ballad, won't you? It goes like this: 'Murica! Historically and culturally represented by this one white dude! Hoo-ah, don'chu mess with 'Murica! *semi-truck horn blares*

[@robertsuldan1185]

Why do people even bother to upload videos with sound in only one speaker?

[@GH-oi2jf]

Robert Suldan - The problem can easily be handled in the headphones.

[@robertsuldan1185]

@@GH-oi2jf only if you have really crappy mono headphones. We shouldn't have to go into system settings and change things to fix something that should have been done before the upload.

[@smeeself]

@@robertsuldan1185 You poor dear.

[@edwardemanuel5337]

Gilarte Fernandez couches his argument as if only an economic motive will kick off the needed "space race," but he is enthusiastic about colonizing the Moon. Rare metals such as uranium-3, which turns out to be a fuel for nuclear fusion and which could provide energy for our civilization for the next 10,000 years, " he wrote. Larouchepac.com

[@Agarwaen]

Uranium-3.. well lmao.

[@seth1422]

Helium-3. Uranium can’t have that low a number and be uranium.

[@bruce92106]

Audio is just BAD .. which is sad. :(

[@technowarriorstv]

you stay the hell alive jim lovell your one of my heros i lost neil Armstrong and im NOT GOING TO LOSE YOU STAY THE FUCK ALIVE

[@yves2348]

De facto the Apollo 8 mission was as astounding as Apollo 11 one. After all it was the first flight to the Moon. Those were the days I´ll always remember. 🥲

[@evelynmoore2613]

Least funny crew: Apollo 11.

[@MarvelousLXVII]

Except Michael Collins. Very funny. Read his book Carrying the Fire.

[@thisaccountisdead168]

Evelyn Moore Michael Collins is great. he has quite a strong self deprecating sense of humour.

[@richardcook6284]

I wish I had that one. I do have his book "Liftoff". It was very educational.

[@clairemartin3359]

No, Michael Collins is hilarious.

[@pleasepermitmetospeakohgre1504]

Twitchy the lot of them, particularly collins. Armstrong clearly wasn't enjoying any of it.

[@Atmanyatri]

“ I was lucky because if I hadn’t been in Apollo I would have been in Vietnam “ it’s sad to know that they weren’t interested in exploring the moon it was all about beating the Russians

[@texasforever7887]

JFK also didn't care about space at all. He proposed the moon simply because his advisers thought we could beat the Soviets to it.

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

The last three Apollo missions to the Moon were all science.

[@willoughbykrenzteinburg]

Perhaps the motivation for FUNDING the Apollo program was purely political - and it probably was; those that RECEIVED that funding were very much interested in exploring the moon. What you are saying is a bit silly. Sure - perhaps the people who are giving you the money don't necessarily care about your mission, but that doesn't mean YOU don't. When you really look into it, it's no secret that JFK wasn't all that thrilled about the space program. His motivations for urging congress to fund the program don't really have anything to do with the motivations and aspirations of those who received that funding.

[@texasforever7887]

The only reason JFK picked the moon to land a human is because his science advisors concluded that the US would eventually be able achieve this in roughly 10 to 12 years while the Russians would fall short. Now those gentlemen deserve a medal and its absolutely amazing how accurate their prediction was.

[@garyhillman4993]

The Russians didn’t lie like NASA. They were way way way in front of the US The US have been using the Russians rockets for 40 years don’t believe a word you hear. You ll be telling me Armstrong buzz n Collins went to the moon next. Don’t believe anything NASA tell you

[@David-cv1se]

An evening of lies

[@ant4812]

Inaudible.

[@allybally0021]

They are a bit long in the tooth. Could America not have found younger men to be astronauts? Or is there a lack of applicants?

[@pleasepermitmetospeakohgre1504]

I don't believe they went.

[@allybally0021]

@@pleasepermitmetospeakohgre1504 They probably have to go 4 times an hour.

[@robertcampbell6349]

@@pleasepermitmetospeakohgre1504 Ignorant dullard

[@smeeself]

@@pleasepermitmetospeakohgre1504 Your tin fool hat is on too tight.

[@pleasepermitmetospeakohgre1504]

@@smeeself Crafted from your toy model of a lunar lander