Apollo 8 came at Christmas Eve in world history , Christmas Eve . Their triumph over adversity was immortalized in the movie `` Apollo 13 , '' in which Tom Hanks played Lovell . Astronauts circled the moon on 1968 ; they were sixth to go that far . Famous photo of Earth , reading from the United States ended year on a better note .
Apollo 8 came at Christmas Eve in world history , Christmas Eve . Astronauts circled the moon on 1968 ; they were sixth to go that far . Famous photo of Earth , reading from the United States ended year on a better note .