Apollo 8 Christmas Eve Remembrance

It’s been 40 years tonight that an estimated one billion people either watched or listened to the live broadcast from lunar orbit by the crew of Apollo 8. In retrospect of that flight it fascinates me that all of the engineers and astronauts thought about almost everything on how to blast off from Cape Kennedy Florida, travel across the vastness of space to the far side of the moon but the one thing man had not considered or planned for was something that almost didn’t happen . . . an attempt for the crew to glimpse and record the most moving of sights, as their jewel of a home planet, suspended in the blackness of space, rose from behind the barren lunar horizon.

No one had thought about what our world would look like from behind the moon that first time so no scheduled ‘picture taking’ was in the mission plan but by some luck and quick thinking by the astronauts . . . one picture changed how we view ourselves in the world.

What I’m talking about is the ‘Earthrise’ picture snapped from the far side of the moon by Bill Anders. It inspired us, jump-started the world in its awareness of the environment, and gave us many other possibilities for our world.

Many of us remember the famous “Earth Rise” picture that was taken on Apollo 8. How incredible it must have been to have seen such a moving sight with the Earth Rising from behind the lunar surface 30 miles below. Today it is still one of my favorite pictures.

In a time that now seems so long ago in a year that had been heart breaking for many of us, 1968 was a very electrifying and appalling year. It was stressful and chaotic with many things happening around the world and in America; the assassinations of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, the Vietnam War with the Tet Offensive, the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, student uprisings continuing around the country along with the riots during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago just to name a few.

I was in my last stages of high school and as a child of the 60’s was totally fascinated by the Space Program. We would drive from Atlanta to Cape Canaveral (later the John F. Kennedy Space Center) Florida to view the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo launches. Each one was something to see and experience. As the size of the rockets grew so did the sound and vibrations of the ground from several miles away.

To watch a rocket rise from the beaches on the Florida coast and rise into the sky captured my imagination and still to this day makes me wish for some way to experience that adventure.

The Christmas mission of Apollo 8 was the first time a human completely escaped Earth's gravity and, with his own eyes, saw the dark side of the moon. The flight was a worldwide phenomenon, thanks to Apollo 8's providing the first pictures of our planet taken by man from deep space, and the first live TV coverage of the moon's surface up close.

Apollo 11, commanded by Neil Armstrong, marked the first time man had stepped on the moon. But Apollo 8 was . . . and still is, by some . . . considered the most important step in the exploration of space. Man had left the confines of Earth to visit another heavenly body and look back at everyone on earth watching them.

The men of Apollo 8 were Jim Lovell, Frank Borman, and William Anders.NASA told them to say something on this Christmas Eve to the whole world during a live television broadcast.

And so they did.

"In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. . . .''

The trio of astronauts of Apollo 8, speaking from space on Christmas Eve in 1968, quoted from Genesis, the first book of the Bible.

It was, probably the most profound Christmas prayer ever given by any member of the human race.

Jim Lovell would later say, "It was a natural. It's really the basis of most of the world's religions.'' Lovell an Apollo 8 astronaut has lent the flight manual containing the verses to the Adler Planetarium. "We transferred it onto fireproof paper, and we put in the back of the flight manual,'' said Lovell.

The astronauts made the decision to read from the Bible.

Anders, a Catholic, at first wanted to tell the story of Christ's birth. Borman knew the world would be watching -- a world that included folks other than Christians.

Borman consulted a friend, Simon Bourgin, who worked for the United States Information Agency. Stumped, Bourgin asked another friend, Joe Laitlan, a former newspaperman. Laitlan's wife, Christine, told her husband to "begin at the beginning'' and suggested Genesis.

The first 10 lines of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, that was read by the crew of Apollo 8, begins the story of God's creation of the universe.

Lunar module pilot William Anders was first, reading that "God said 'Let there be light and there was light.' ''

Command module pilot and navigator James Lovell read verses five through eight, covering the creation of day and night.

Apollo 8 commander Frank Borman concluded with God separating land from sea, concluding with the line "and God saw that it was good.''

The astronauts concluded their reading of the first 10 lines of Genesis with a message from Borman, Apollo 8's commander.

"And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with a good night, good luck and a merry Christmas. God bless all of you . . . all of you on the good Earth.''

With all of the bad things from 1968 behind us we ended the year on an upbeat, we ended doing something positive.

Forty years later there are some similarities in the world around us and the words still ring true for me anyway.

“God bless all of you . . . all of you on the good Earth.''

While they may not have cured the ills of 1968, Borman, Lovell, and Anders did manage to briefly unite the people of earth in wonderment.

Upon their return, the astronauts famously received an anonymous telegram saying, simply, “Thank you for saving 1968.”

There likely will be no feel-good story from space this year. It will be known for gas soaring above $4 a gallon, the mortgage meltdown, bonuses to failed CEOs, the federal bank bailout, rising unemployment, the crash of the big three automakers and two wars that show no sign of end.

All I can say is Happy Holidays everyone, and may God Bless.

Ice

Some information gleaned from:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/moon/peopleevents/index.html