Apollo 8 Nostalgia

NASA has produced a short animated comic with original audio of the Apollo 8 mission.  It is less than 90 seconds long, and I encourage you to watch it.  It shows the first 'earthrise' ever photographed and it discusses the astronauts circling the moon on Christmas Eve and their message to the millions watching and listening on earth. 

The real jewel though, is the original press kit that you can download.  I do not read many typewriter produced documents and the typeface itself is a voyage in time.  It is a truly historical document describing every event of the Apollo mission, with detailed information on the launch vehicle.  I found it amusing that a high speed data link of 2400 bits per second relayed data from the Goddard Space Flight Center's computers to to Mission control in Houston.  The total aggregate data from Houston was 40,800 bits per second - and they were controlling a manned capsule circling the moon!

Complete trivia, but humanly interesting are the Apollo 8 meals.  The average daily calorie total was 2500 calories.  For example, breakfast on days 5 and 9 were: peaches, bacon squares, cinnamon toasted bread cubes and grapefruit drink.  One astronaut was awake throughout the 24 hour earth day.  A lunar day and night is 14 earth days each.

It really is an interesting review.  Something interesting to think about though, what could that NASA team have accomplished with today's technology?