December 21, 1968 – A powerful Saturn V rocket launched the Apollo 8 mission from Cape Kennedy, Florida, at 7:50 a.m. EST. Two hours 50 minutes later, the crew performed a translunar injection, and astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders were off on a Christmas-time voyage to the Moon. Fun fact: The Saturn V rocket stood at 363 feet (110.6 m). That’s over 35 stories stall, about 2 times that of the space shuttle.