 Apollo 8 came at the end of 1968 , a year that had seen much upheaval in the United States and most of the world . Even though the year saw political assassinations , political unrest in the streets of Europe and America , and the Prague Spring , Time magazine chose the crew of Apollo 8 as their Men of the Year for 1968 , recognizing them as the people who most influenced events in the preceding year . They had been the first people ever to leave the gravitational influence of the Earth and orbit another celestial body . They had survived a mission that even the crew themselves had rated as only having a fifty @-@ fifty chance of fully succeeding . The effect of Apollo 8 can be summed up by a telegram from a stranger , received by Borman after the mission , that simply stated , " Thank you Apollo 8 . You saved 1968 . " 
