1968: Apollo 8 and it’s three astronauts — Frank Borman, William Anders and James Lovell Jr. — made a safe nighttime splashdown in the Pacific after the first manned mission to the moon.
Before orbiting the moon in preparation for the first moon landing the following year, Borman had been an Air Force test pilot and physics professor at West Point; Anders also had been an Air Force fighter pilot, having graduated from the Naval Academy; and Lovell’s experience included a four-year tour as a Navy test pilot, according to NASA. Read more about the Apollo 8 mission — and listen to Apollo 8’s famous Christmas message — on the NASA website.
he Apollo 8 spacecraft which took three astronauts to the moon and back on a journey of more than a half million miles is hoisted aboard the USS Yorktown, Friday, Dec. 27, 1968. Recovery of the spacecraft was made in the Pacific 1000 miles south of Hawaii.
Photo Credit: Cliff Owen/AP
Also happening today in the United States and elsewhere:
1939
: After two days of fighting the Finns win the Battle of Kelya, driving off the Soviet 4
thRifle Division with 2,000 dead, but the Finns suffer heavily in proportion to their army, with 141 dead and 375 wounded. They do, however, capture 12 anti-tank guns, 140 heavy machine guns, 200 light machine guns and 1,500 rifles.
1944
: General George S. Patton Jr.’s Third Army reestablishes Bastogne’s communications and access to supplies during World War II, allowing casualties to be evacuated. For all intents and purposes, the German siege is broken. Read more about Bastogne on HistoryNet.com.
1979: Soviet forces seized control of Afghanistan. President Hafizullah Amin, who was overthrown and executed, was replaced by Babrak Karmal.
HistoryNet.com Research Director Jon Guttman contributed to this report.
