Very appealing flown piece of heat shield from the Apollo 8 spacecraft CSM-103, which launched from Cape Kennedy LC-39A on December 21 and splashed down in the North Pacific Ocean six days later on December 27, 1968. The fragment measures 1.75″ x .5″ x .25″ and is encased in a capsule-shaped 3.75″ x 3.25″ x 1.75″ Lucite display. In fine condition, with a chip to upper point. Apollo 8 was the first crewed spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit and the first to reach the Moon, orbit it, and return. Its three-man crew of Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders became the first humans to fly to the Moon, to witness and photograph an Earthrise, and to escape the gravity of a celestial body.
