Apollo 8: Part 1 Houston We Have a Podcast Dec. 22, 2018
(...) Host: Your thoughts as you moved out of the orbit of the Earth into trans-lunar orbit. You're now moving away towards the moon. What were your thoughts at that time?
Frank Borman: Well, I wish I could be romantic or poetic, but I'm not. I don't have any particular thoughts. It was part of the mission. It worked perfectly. And, okay, now we're on our way to the moon. What's the next thing on the flight plan?
Host: The idea of going to the moon was an audacious goal at the time. And just as you said, it was primarily driven by, you know, beating the Russians and all that, but it was necessary to meet Kennedy's directive to do so by the end of the decade. Did you believe that you had a good chance of getting to the moon? Yeah, did you believe you had a good chance?
Frank Borman: You know, people have often asked me, "What'd you think your odds were of getting back alive on this mission?" And I know Bill Anders had calculated what he thought. I forgot what it was-- a third that we would not get the mission done but a third we'd get back, a third we'd get the mission done, and a third we wouldn't come back. But I thought a 100% we'd make it, and it'd be a successful mission. You know, in general, Phillips, who was Apollo Program manager in Washington, same thing. He said, "Look, if I didn't think it was going to be 100% successful, we wouldn't fly the mission" [laughs]. Why would you start out on a uncertain task with less than a 100% reliability? Which is not reliability, but assurance in your own mind that it's got to work.
Host: Absolutely.
Frank Borman: Confidence it'll work.
Host: What did you think about the magnitude of the accomplishment? So, as you said, you know, you were really thinking about the next thing, but once you actually, you know, saw the moon, once you were in lunar orbit, what did you think about that accomplishment?
Frank Borman: Well, the whole focus on the mission turned to the Earth after we saw the Earth coming up over the lunar surface, and Bill Anders took that picture of the Earthrise, which was, I guess, one of the iconic pictures of the last century.
Host: Still is.
Frank Borman: But in any event, I think it was Bill, too, who said, "Look, we went all the way to the moon to discover the Earth." The Earth was the only thing in the universe that had any color. It was blue, basically, with white clouds, and it was very lonely, and the universe was pitch black. And I think it gave us a sense of the fact that we better do our best to take care of this little blue marble that we have.
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Host: So, once again, that was Frank Borman, commander of Apollo 8. Bill Anders, the lunar module pilot was also on that mission and took the famous Earthrise photo, a shot of the Earth from the lunar orbit. So, here's Anders, reflecting on that photograph.
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Bill Anders: It didn't really sink in on me for a while, but others picked it up. It sort gave a kick-start to the environmental movement, and so, I think, Earthrise will go down in history as an iconic first, real view of our home planet, which is very fragile and very delicate. (...)
https://www.nasa.gov/johnson/HWHAP/apollo-8-part-1