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Curated playlist

1968 in spaceflight

  • Jim LovellJim Lovell flew to the Moon twice and never set foot on it. His second trip, Apollo 13, nearly ended in disaster.
  • Donn F. EiseleDonn Eisele was in a hospital on January 27, 1966, exactly a year before the Apollo 1 fire.
  • Walter CunninghamWalter Cunningham sat in the lunar module pilot seat on a spacecraft with no lunar module. It was Apollo 7.
  • Frank BormanA stranger's telegram told Apollo 8's Frank Borman, "You saved 1968." He commanded the first crew to orbit the Moon.
  • Wally SchirraAstronaut Wally Schirra refused Mission Control's request to wear helmets.
  • EarthriseApollo 8's commander claimed for years that he took the Earthrise photograph. Bill Anders took all three.
  • Saturn IBEngineers nicknamed the Saturn IB's first stage Cluster's Last Stand. It used recycled missile tanks.
  • Saturn VA Saturn V engine test shattered a bank window 15 miles away. The Moon rocket's roar carried across Mississippi.
  • William AndersWilliam Anders fled Japanese bombers as a boy, then photographed Earth from the Moon.
  • Soyuz (rocket family)The Soyuz rocket family descends from the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile.

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