Apollo 8 was a historic mission in NASA's Apollo program and was launched from Kennedy Space Center atop a Saturn V rocket. The mission aimed to orbit the Moon to conduct observations, photography, and data collection to assess the lunar surface for future landing sites. The crew captured the iconic photograph "Earthrise," showing Earth rising above the lunar horizon, which became one of the most famous images in human history. The mission was headed by Frank Borman (commander), James A Lovell Jr (command module pilot), and William A Anders (lunar module pilot). After completing their lunar orbits and scientific tasks, Apollo 8 successfully returned to Earth, re-entering the atmosphere and splashing down in the Pacific Ocean. The crew was recovered by the USS Yorktown.