THE FIRST MISSION TO THE MOON--EARTHRISE---A SUPER FILM

Mumbai; Yes, Apollo 11 --the first mission to land humans on the moon---was a super feat in July 1969 which can never be overtaken by any other scientific or technical event. It is for this reason that it is being said that Neil Armstrong will be the only person who will be remembered beyond 1000 years. In 2019 worldwide celebrations are being planned to celebrate the 50th anniv of this flight.

But, let us remember that the real daring and challenging flight to the moon which was full of risks was the Christmas lunar flight --Apollo 8--in December 1968. The crew was Frank Borman, Bill Anders and Jim Lowell.

The significance of Apollo 8 has been to some extent overshadowed by the accomplishment of Apollo 11. Apollo 8 was the result of the Cold War politics between the former Soviet Union and the US. In the 60s the US was heavily losing to the Soviets in the space race. At that time the CIA had alerted Nasa by showing images taken by its spy sats that the Soviets had positioned a monstrous rocket at the Baikonour cosmodrome and were preparing for a crewed circumlunar flight. This is one of the pix which forms a part of my space museum!

The CIA warning placed the US adminstration and particularly Nasa in a dilemma. George Low, then a top shot at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston , came out with a solution which was a shocker.----why not launch a direct flight to the lunar orbit without the usual missions to the earth orbit as a precursor to Apollo 11? This was the only was, he explained, the US can beat the Soviets in the space race. It took quite some time for Nasa officials to believe what they heard and even James Webb, then Nasa adminstrator, was not in favour of it because of the enormous risks involved.

Despite the several unknowns, opinion finally swung in favour of Low's risky plan in May 1968. And the riskiest mission to the moon took off on December 21, 1968 with just seven months of preparations triggering a lot of apprehensions about the safety of such a daring lunar venture among the crews' family members.

``Earthrise--The First Lunar Voyage,'' is about this mission.about which frankly very little is known among the lay public. It is a 55-minute movie which covers all aspect of this flight---interviews with the crew, their wives, Nasa officials and even mediapersons like Walter Cronkite and Andrew Chaikin , the latter whom I met in Boston in May 1995. It is a must watch for space geeks and those who are passionate about the Apollo missions like me! Released on December 22, 2015, it can be accessed on Youtube.

It is full of drama, excitement and emotion. For example when Low told Borman's wife, Suzanne that the chances of their husband's safe return was 50-50, she accepted it philosophically and even went to the extent of saying that she liked what Low had told her because she said she had to face the situation realistically. Low made it clear to her that there were several unknowns in this flight and if the trans-earth burn---the return flight- did not work they were doomed.

Apart from the fact that it was the real flight to the moon, though it did not touchdown on the lunar surface, Apollo 8 will be remembered for two other aspects as well--on Christmas eve the crew read out from the Genesis and they took a great pix of earthrise. This pix has now become historical and can be seen at the Nehru Planetarium in Mumbai. Apollo 8 paved the way for Apollo 11.

I am going to transfer the super film to my pen drive and watch it on a big screen TV. For this I have to depend upon my wife, Usha!