Video: 'Apollo 8 CBS' (Dec. 24, 1968, coverage begins with video #20)

(Christmas Eve, Tuesday, December 24, 1968, 9:59:20 UTC) — Having flown around the leading edge of the moon, Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders became the first humans to see the far side of the moon today as they fired the engines of the craft to begin mankind’s first lunar orbit.

Over the remainder of the day, the men circled the Moon ten times, each trip around taking about two hours, took photos of potential landing sites and made two television transmissions to earth.

Anders photographed Earthrise, the view of Earth being viewed from the Moon. At the time of the photo, the Earth was seen at half phase, while the view from Earth was of a waxing Moon between quarter moon and a half moon.