 Once the Command Module was separated from the Service Module , the astronauts were committed to re @-@ entry . Six minutes before they hit the top of the atmosphere , the crew saw the Moon rising above the Earth 's horizon , just as had been predicted by the trajectory specialists . As they hit the thin outer atmosphere they noticed it was becoming hazy outside as glowing plasma formed around the spacecraft . The spacecraft started slowing down and the deceleration peaked at 6 g ( 59 m / s2 ) . With the computer controlling the descent by changing the attitude of the spacecraft , Apollo 8 rose briefly like a skipping stone before descending to the ocean . At 30 @,@ 000 feet ( 9 @.@ 1 km ) the drogue parachute stabilized the spacecraft and was followed at 10 @,@ 000 feet ( 3 @.@ 0 km ) by the three main parachutes . The spacecraft splashdown position was officially reported as 8 ° 8 ′ N 165 ° 1 ′ W in the North Pacific Ocean south of Hawaii . 
