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On December 24, 1968, Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders were far from their homes and loved ones. In fact, they were far from Earth itself…about a quarter million miles to be precise. The three astronauts onboard Apollo 8 were in orbit around the moon and just a few minutes away from addressing the nation – and the entire world – in a special, televised broadcast on Christmas Eve.
What would they say on such a momentous occasion?
The moment could not be more enormous. Not only was it the night that the Earth celebrated the birth of its long-awaited Savior, but these three men were now orbiting the Earth’s moon, the first of our species to do so! Experts had (correctly) predicted that the astronauts’ voices would be heard by more humans in that broadcast than through any other broadcast in history.
With the whole planet tuning in, NASA literally had billions of reasons to get this right.
Yet, in stark contrast to how flight engineers scripted every single detail about the six day mission, from equipment checks to meal plans to sleep schedules, Mission Control decided to allow Borman, Lovell, and Anders to choose the words that would mark such an unforgettable event.
The three jet-pilots-turned-scientists quickly realized that poetry wasn’t their strong suit. The astronauts kicked around several ideas, but for one reason or another, aborted each of them. With time quickly running out, Commander Borman enlisted the help of a friend. Unfortunately, the friend couldn’t develop anything significant enough for the moment, so with permission, he enrolled the help of one of his friends, a former war correspondent. That gentleman worked feverishly and long into the night, but also failed to find the right words. Fortunately, the man’s wife made a suggestion to him at 3:30 in the morning that was seemed plausible enough to pass back up the chain. When the three astronauts heard it, they immediately adopted the woman’s plan and didn’t say a word about it to anyone, including their wives.
At 8:30pm Houston time on Christmas Eve, the television broadcast began with a view of the Earth from the tiny command module. One by one, each of the men introduced themselves and talked about what they’d done since the mission’s previous televised broadcast. And then came the moment the astronauts had been planning for weeks and weeks….
“We are now approaching lunar sunrise,” Anders said, “and for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you.”
No one at Mission Control, or anyone else, had any idea what these men were about to say. The astronauts’ wives and children and friends leaned forward.
While the Moon continued to move across television screens, Anders began. “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.”
Anders was reading the first words from Genesis, the first book of the Bible.
Lovell continued the passage. “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.”
Borman continued. “And God said, ‘Let the waters under the Heaven 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 He called seas. And God saw that it was good.”
Borman paused. “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.”
Resource’s Origin:
Rocket Men: The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man’s First Journey to the Moon by Robert Kurson. Random House, 2019, Pages 262-263.
