Description
- NASA
- Collectible Postage Stamps
THIS IS A BLOCK OF 6 STAMPS AS PICTURED. ~ On April 5, 1969 in Houston TX; the US Post Office Dept. commemorated the Apollo 8, the second manned mission in the American Apollo space program, was the first human spaceflight to leave Earth orbit; and the first crewed voyage to return to Earth from the Moon. After launching on December 21, 1968, Apollo 8 took three days to travel to the Moon. It orbited ten times over the course of 20 hours. Apollo 8's successful mission paved the way for Apollo 11 to fulfill U.S. President John F. Kennedy's goal of landing a man on the Moon before the end of the 1960s. The stamp depicts Earthrise; photographed by astronaut Bill Anders as he and his fellow Apollo 8 crewmen, Jim Lovell and Frank Borman, orbited the Moon on Christmas Eve, 1968.