RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, on December 21,1968, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) sent a three-astronaut crew — Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders — on man's first journey to the Moon; and,
WHEREAS, during the flight of Apollo 8, the astronaut crew broke the then-current world altitude record of 853 miles and became the first humans to see Earth as a whole planet, to orbit the Moon, to see the far side of the Moon, to see the view that became known as Earthrise, and to travel safely back to Earth from the Moon; and,
WHEREAS, the Apollo 8 mission was foundational to the American space program's success in its two most important objectives: to land a man on the Moon by President John Fitzgerald Kennedy's end-of-decade deadline and to triumph over the Soviets in space; and,
WHEREAS, many astronauts, NASA executives, experts and historians agree that the Apollo 8 mission was the boldest and riskiest and most important mission NASA ever attempted; and,
WHEREAS, the Apollo 8 mission became the positive cultural highlight in an otherwise tragic year in American history, one marked by the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, clashes in Vietnam, and rioting around the nation, including at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago; and,
WHEREAS, the Apollo 8 command module, designated CSM-103, resides on loan at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago; and,
WHEREAS, on April 5, 2018, the astronaut crew of Apollo 8 will come to Chicago to be reunited with the Apollo 8 command module at the Museum of Science and Industry in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 8 mission and publication of the book Rocket Men, the Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man's First Journey to the Moon by Robert Kurson; now therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the Mayor and the members of the Chicago City Council, assembled this twenty-eighth day of March,...
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