Apollo8 came at the end of 1968, a year that had seen much upheaval in the United States and most of the world. They were the first human beings ever to orbit another celestial body, having survived a mission that even the crew themselves had rated as having only a fifty-fifty chance of fully succeeding. The effect of Apollo8 was summed up in a telegram from a stranger, received by Borman after the mission, that stated simply, "Thank you Apollo 8. You saved 1968."