The exciting and inspiring true story of Apollo 8, the first manned American spaceship to break free of the Earth's orbit and reach the moon, by the best-selling author of Apollo 13.

What's more exciting that spaceships and astronauts? How about a spaceship carrying the first astronauts ever to see the moon first hand -- on Christmas!

In 1968, with the American people still reeling from the explosion of Apollo 1 a year earlier, and amid rumors that the Russian cosmonauts were getting ready to circumnavigate the moon, NASA decided to take a bold step. They wanted to win the space race against Russia and hold true to President Kennedy's promise to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. So they took a risk and, a few days before Christmas, sent Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders to the moon! This book tells the story of these three brave men, the frantic rush to get their rocket ready, and the journey that gave the American people -- and the world -- a new look at the planet we live on and the corner of space we inhabit.

Filled with the science and training required to put a person into space, and every detail of what it's like to live in a spaceship for days on end (including what happens when astronauts need to use the bathroom), this book is sure to leave kids clamoring for a spot on the next mission to outerspace.