Program Celebrates 40th Anniversary Of Historic Mission

The Newseum announced this weekend the crew of Apollo 8 -- mission commander Frank Borman, command module pilot James Lovell and lunar module pilot William Anders -- will reunite in a special public program marking the 40th anniversary of their historic mission on December 21-27, 1968. The program will take place on Thursday, November 13, at 1:30 p.m. in the Newseum's Knight TV Studio.

Apollo 8 was the first NASA mission to circle the moon, orbiting 10 times over the course of 20 hours. During this time, the crew did a live Christmas Eve television broadcast during which they read from the Bible's Book of Genesis. At the time, the broadcast was the most-watched TV program in history. The mission also produced one of the world's most famous photographs, an image of the Earth rising over the lunar landscape (below) taken by astronaut Bill Anders.

During the hour-long program, the astronauts will discuss the mission and how the success of Apollo 8 contributed to the overall NASA efforts toward a lunar landing, accomplished just seven months later with the Apollo 11 mission (in fact, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin were part of the backup crew for Apollo 8). The crew also will talk about NASA since Apollo and the future of the space agency.

The program will be moderated by Nick Clooney, Newseum Distinguished Journalist in Residence. Clooney also is the host of the upcoming "Reel Journalism" film series presented by the Newseum and American University.

The public program is part of the Newseum's commemoration of the 50th anniversary of NASA and is open to Newseum visitors. Seating in the Newseum's Knight TV Studio is limited, and seats will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Additional overflow seating will be available throughout the Newseum. The program is scheduled to be covered live by NASA-TV and will be streamed on the NASA website.

FMI: www.newseum.org, www.nasa.gov