Apollo 8

Six months before Neil Armstrong’s ‘one small step’ came mankind’s giant leap. It was December 1968. Faced with President Kennedy’s challenge to land a man on the Moon before the end of the decade, NASA made the bold decision to send three astronauts beyond Earth orbit for the first time.

Those three astronauts spent Christmas Eve in 1968 orbiting the moon. Their legendary photograph, Earthrise showed our planet as seen from across the lunar horizon, and was believed to have been a major influence on the nascent environmental movement. Through the extraordinary NASA archive, we go inside the capsule to tell the story of the first time man went to another world.

• Producer: Chris Browning for BBC Radio 4

Publicity contact: Radio 4 Publicity