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Apollo 8 was the first in the world to head to the moon using trans-lunar injection.

How NASA’s Apollo 8 Left Earth’s Orbit

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Eleven-and-a-half minutes after leaving the ground, Apollo 8 is circling the Earth at 17,000 miles an hour. Then, an unprecedented and momentous event: the third stage engine re-lights and sends Apollo 8 out of Earth orbit toward the Moon. It’s a daring maneuver NASA calls T.L.I., or “trans-lunar injection.”

How Apollo 8 used trans-lunar injection to become the first manned mission to orbit and return from the Moon.

Discover how Apollo 8 used trans-lunar injection to become the first manned mission to orbit and return from the Moon.

Space & Flight

How NASA’s Apollo 8 Left Earth’s OrbitPublished: March 27, 2019Onscreen: In December 1968, Apollo 8 lifts off. For the first time, humans will attempt to leave Earth's orbit.Narrator Eleven-and-a-half minutes after leaving the ground, Apollo 8 is moving 17,000 miles an hour, circling the earth. Then, an unprecedented and momentous event: the third stage engine will re-light, and send Apollo 8 out of Earth orbit toward the moon. It’s a maneuver NASA calls T.L.I., “trans-lunar injection.”Mike Collins: “Trans-lunar injection?” It sounds like some sort of a medical device.Narrator: Astronaut Michael Collins is CAPCOM, the one person in Mission Control who speaks directly to the astronauts.Collins: I mean, I love NASA, but they have an ability to transform, sometimes, the ethereal into the mundane.Narrator: In this moment, Michael Collins has the honor of announcing a turning point in human history.Collins: I said to them, “Apollo 8, you’re “GO” for T.L.I.”(File Footage): Apollo 8, you are “GO” for T.L.I., over.And Borman said, “Roger, Houston.”Frank Borman: (File Footage): Roger, understand, we’re “GO” for T.L.I.Collins: That was it. I just really wish I had that moment to live over again, because I would have said to them, “Apollo 8, you can now slip the surly bonds of Earth, and dance the sky, Apollo 8! Dance the sky. You go,” is what I would have said to them, instead of, “You’re cleared for T.L.I.”NARRATOR: The words may be mundane, but the meaning is profound.David Mindell: It was the first time that any human beings entered the gravitational field of another planetary body besides the one that we evolved on.

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How NASA’s Apollo 8 Left Earth’s Orbit

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