HUTCHINSON, Kan. — It was one of the largest collections of Apollo-era astronauts gathered by the Cosmosphere at one time. It was a full house as the space museum celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 8 moon mission.

Apollo 8 and 13 astronaut Jim Lovell, Apollo 17 moon walker Harrison Schmidt, Apollo 16 lunar pilot Charlie Duke and Apollo 7 astronaut Walt Cunningham were joined by Skylab Astronaut Jack Lousma and numerous members of mission control.

All took time to talk about that special mission that was made even more so when astronauts Lovell, Frank Borman and Bill Anders read from the book of Genesis on Christmas Eve. Lovell recalled seeing the earth for the first time as they orbited the moon:

 

The Apollo 8 mission was moved from a test flight to a lunar flight after it was discovered the Soviet Union may be on the verge of sending man to the moon. The mission was changed and made up in just 14 weeks. Jack Lousma said that, despite the great risk, he felt that NASA was able to control the risks involved with such a flight:

 

The flight was also just the third for the Saturn V rocket that failed to perform in a previous test flight.

Charlie Duke also spoke and said the only time he got to see earth from the moon was when he fell on his back during one of his moon walks on Apollo 16.

The evening was also attended by family members of Neil Armstrong and Alan Shepard, along with NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.