American Space Exploration
On Christmas Eve of 1968, the crew of Apollo 8 sent a special message to everyone back on earth. As they orbited the moon, the three astronauts took turns reading meaningful verses from the Holy Christian Bible (Genesis 1:1-10).
William Anders read: We are now approaching lunar sunrise and, for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to 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 read: "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 water which were under the firmament from the waters which were abovce the firmament; and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day."
Frank Borman read: "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." 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.
PAO (Houston Public Affairs Office) responded: This is Apollo Control Houston. The speakers in the order that they read from what we believe to be chapters from Genesis, were Bill Anders and Jim Lovell and close out with Frank Borman. That's both Biblical and a geological lesson that none of us will forget.
