The mission accomplished several amazing feats:
- It was the first time humans had ever gone beyond low Earth orbit
- It was of course the closest humans had ever gotten to the moon
- It was the first time humans had ever seen the Earth as a whole planet, as well as seen an “Earthrise” (see the article picture up top for a famous picture taken during the mission)
- And it was the first time humans had seen with their own eyes the far side of the moon.
The reading from Genesis was so iconic that in 1969 the US Postal Service released a commemorative stamp for the Apollo 8 mission that featured the famous “Earthrise” photo taken from lunar orbit as well as the first words from Genesis: