The booster's third stage accelerated the Apollo 8 crew from 17,000 to 24,000 miles per hour (27,000 to 39,000 kph), the fastest any astronauts had traveled up to that point in history.

NOAA officials added. The aircraft carrier USS Yorktown is in dry dock at Pearl Harbor, being readied for the Battle of Midway. June 1942. © CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images ...