The Apollo program was conceived during President Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration and later dedicated to President John F. Kennedy's goal of "landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth" within a decade. By 1968, NASA was running out of time to achieve this lofty goal, forcing them to advance the program timeline and promote Apollo 8 to be the first crewed mission to orbit the Moon.

On December 21, 1968, Apollo 8 blasted off from Kennedy Space Center, carrying astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders. During the mission, the trio extensively photographed the lunar surface, searching for an ideal spot for the Moon landing.

Among the photos of the surface, Anders also took a beautiful, if unplanned, color photo of our home planet above the lunar horizon—the iconic Earthrise image.

This specimen is a piece of expansion joint material, removed from the Apollo 8 Command Module. The material comes from the private collection of post-flight test conductor Jerald B Wilken, who worked on the inspection and testing of the Command Module at the North American Rockwell facility in Downey, California. It was purchased at public auction in 2021 by Mini Museum and is now available as an incredible collectible.

The material is enclosed in an acrylic cube with a magnified lid for easy viewing. The acrylic cube is housed inside a padded, glass-topped riker box display case measuring 5 1/2" x 6 1/2". As pictured, an informational card is included with images from Apollo 8, details about the mission, and a certificate of authenticity.

This material is exceptionally rare. We were quite lucky to acquire enough to share with the world as a Mini Museum specimen and it is unlikely we will be able to do so again in the future. This limited run is currently all we have and all we will ever be able to share. That is to say... don't wait! Add it to your collection now!

By 1968, the Apollo program’s goal of landing a crew on the Moon by decade’s end was in jeopardy. Apollo 6’s Saturn V test nearly ended in disaster when two of the second-stage rockets shut down early and a third engine refused to ignite once in space. With more testing needed, the mission timetable was thrown out of whack until engineer George Low had a brilliant idea: skip the final Earth-orbit test and jump Apollo 8's mission ahead to send its crew directly to orbit the Moon.

Apollo 8 Commander Frank Borman was a veteran of the Apollo program, having worked on the inquiry into the Apollo 1 fire and overseen the Block II command module’s design. Though he was committed to the program in any form, Borman jumped at the chance to helm a mission to the Moon. Accompanying him were Command Module Pilot James Lovell and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders, all assigned to be the first humans to leave Earth's orbit.

Lovell and Borman had flown together before, spending two cramped weeks together aboard Gemini 7, and Anders was a master of the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle, keeping up a friendly competition with Neil Armstrong to see who could pull off the smoother landing.

In just one meeting that August, much of Apollo 8’s mission was drawn up, mainly by mission control head Christopher Kraft and aerospace engineer Howard Wilson Tindall. The six-day mission would begin with two orbits of the Earth, before the command module would fire the third stage of the Saturn V rocket, propelling the astronauts towards the Moon. The command module would arrive during the new moon so they would have the sun rising over the Sea of Tranquility to allow a better view of future landing conditions. Failure would mean a backup mission orbiting the Earth, a potential bitter disappointment to the crew.

That summer, the three astronauts trained relentlessly, preparing for the first manned mission to orbit the Moon. With the end of the decade on the horizon and the Soviet space program making its own strides to the Moon, the launch could not come fast enough. With Apollo 7’s successful return on October 22, Apollo 8's destination was officially announced. Borman and his crew spent these last few weeks putting hours into the command module simulator and going over the mission.

On December 21, 1968, at 7:51 AM, Apollo 8 lifted off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39-A, on its way to the Moon. As planned, the command module orbited the Earth for just under three hours, moving at 17,400 miles per hour at 115 miles high. Then, the crew ignited the third stage of the rocket, pushing them from Earth’s orbit toward the Moon.
 
Three days and 200,000 miles out, the Lunar Orbit Insertion Burn began to bring the command module just 69 miles above the lunar surface. The first burn would bring the module around the far side of the Moon, meaning they would lose radio contact with mission control and be flying on their own for around half an hour.
 
The timetable was exactly right. Loss of radio signal occurred down to the second it was predicted, prompting the trio to start the burn towards the surface of the Moon. Next, the SPS engine fired for four minutes, slowing them to the proper speed for a smooth orbit. With bated breath, the world watched and waited to see if they would emerge on the far side of the Moon. Finally, the call from Lovell came: "Houston, Apollo 8. Burn complete."

One of Apollo 8’s primary tasks was photographing the lunar surface in search of a landing spot for a future mission. Anders set to work, taking photos of different locations on a checklist, but one thing that caught his eye was the sight of Earth rising above the Moon’s horizon. Though it wasn't a scheduled photo, Anders had Lovell fetch him the color film, and he quickly snapped what was to become one of the most iconic shots of our planet ever taken: Earthrise.

On Christmas Eve, Apollo 8 neared the end of its 20 hours of lunar orbiting. To cap things off, the trio hosted a television broadcast, reading verses from the Book of Genesis before Borman closed with: “And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas and God bless all of you—all of you on the good Earth.” From there, the crew performed the Trans-Earth Ejection that brought them out of lunar orbit and back towards Earth.

En route back, the crew was surprised to learn that a collection of presents, a turkey dinner, and even a few bottles of brandy had been hidden for them aboard the module. Still by-the-book, Borman had his crew refrain from the alcohol. The mission had gone near-perfectly, the last thing they needed was a crisis brought on by brandy at the end. 

Apollo 8 splashed down on December 27 without incident, a successful mission that brought NASA one step closer to the Moon landing just six months later.

The astronauts spent this mission within Apollo 8's Command Module, a small space measuring only about 12 feet wide at its diameter. Between these three men and the intense heat of atmospheric re-entry was the thermal protection system, a state of the art combination of heat shields, protective layering, and more that would keep the inside of the CM safe.