In a bold improvisation driven by schedule pressure and delays with the Lunar Module, NASA reassigned the Apollo 8 crew — Frank Borman, James A. Lovell Jr., and William A. Anders — to the first crewed flight of the Saturn V and the first mission to orbit another celestial body. Launched from Kennedy Space Center’s Pad 39A, the 363-foot rocket carried the astronauts into a 114-by-118-mile parking orbit, then onto a trans-lunar trajectory. On Christmas Eve, December 24, 1968, Apollo 8 became the first crewed spacecraft to enter lunar orbit, firing its Service Propulsion System engine for just over four minutes while behind the Moon and out of radio contact. The crew circled the Moon ten times, capturing the iconic "Earthrise" photograph that would forever alter humanity’s perspective on its home planet. That evening, during a live television broadcast estimated to have reached a billion people in 64 countries, the astronauts read the first ten verses of the Book of Genesis and wished viewers "a Merry Christmas and God bless all of you — all of you on the good Earth." After a Trans-Earth Injection burn on Christmas morning, the crew splashed down in the Pacific on December 27, having proven the Saturn V and the CSM capable of deep-space flight.