Launch
The Saturn V carrying the Apollo 8 crew launched on December 21, 1968. The mission marked the first time the Saturn V rocket was used to send humans into space. At the time, Saturn V was the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, and its successful operation in a crewed mission was critical to the future of the Apollo program. This launch demonstrated the reliability and capability of the rocket that would eventually take astronauts to the lunar surface. Also, Apollo 8 tested critical aspects of space travel, such as navigation, communication, and life support systems, far away from Earth.
Apollo 8 and Artemis 2 are analog missions. Scheduled to launch in late 2024, the four-person crew of Artemis 2, launching from NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, will, like Apollo 8, venture around the Moon to test technologies and systems in advance of Artemis 3—the first crewed lunar landing since the Apollo era.
