Apollo 8 is now about half way between the Moon and the Earth, coasting back towards a splashdown rendezvous in the Pacific Ocean on the afternoon of the 27th December.
To illustrate the difference in the size and capability of a launcher and spacecraft system needed to support a lunar mission as opposed to Earth orbital trips, here's a scale comparison of the first three U.S. launch systems. Mercury, a single man system was the first, followed by the two man Gemini and lastly the three man Apollo.
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