Memories of our first views of the
Earth from the Moon,
Christmas Eve, 1968 Apollo 8 and
the reading of Genesis
Looking back forty years
Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the Moon, entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1968. That evening, the astronauts; Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders did a live television broadcast from lunar orbit, in which they showed pictures of the Earth and Moon seen from Apollo 8. Lovell said, "The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth." They ended the broadcast with the crew taking turns reading from the book of Genesis.
William Anders:
"For all the people on Earth the crew of Apollo 8 has a message we would like to send you".
"In the beginning God created
the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the
deep.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there
be light: and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the
darkness."
Jim Lovell:
"And God called the light
Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the
first day.
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it
divide the waters from the waters.
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the
firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the
second day."
Frank Borman:
"And God said, Let the waters
under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land
appear: and it was so.
And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters
called he Seas: and God saw that it was good."
Borman then added, "And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you - all of you on the good Earth."
As a young boy this became one of the most enlightening and spiritual of experiences I had yet to encounter. Tears were in my eyes at the magnificence of the achievement, the vision, and the meaning of what was happening. And for the first time the entire world saw what we looked like from afar, the isolation, the darkness, and how very special the planet Earth appeared on that Christmas Eve. of 1968
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