Maybe it’s a little odd, but I’m a child of the 1960s and I can’t help myself. On this Christmas Eve, at least for a while, my thoughts turn from the usual holiday preparations and onto one of the singular events I remember from my childhood.
Forty years ago today, the world changed forever.
On Christmas Eve, 1968, the crew of Apollo 8 was in orbit around the moon – the first humans to slip away from the Earth’s tight grasp and look back across the lonely void at their distant, verdant home world. The images that they sent back to the then-largest-ever live television audience were startling and starkly beautiful.
Our fragile world revealed
From that moment forward, the Earth would never seem quite the same to us. Our planet – all water and rock and concrete and steel from our perspective here ‘dirtside’ – suddenly appeared small and fragile, a tiny island of life floating in the middle of absolutely nothing. The philosophical impact of the first images of a distant Earth are still being felt to this day. People too young to remember (or not then born) may not realize the impact Apollo 8′s imagery has had on their lives.
Volumes have been written about the topic and time is short today, so I’ll leave it to you to Google around and get educated. But while you’re Googling (or whatever), I would also like to ask you to pause for a moment to consider the courage shown by the three men who volunteered to have themselves blasted out into that place where, truly, “no man had gone before.” You want heroes? Here are three of them:
Frank Borman, William Anders and Jim Lovell - the crew of Apollo 8
In closing their broadcast that Christmas Eve long ago, the crew read the opening verses of Genesis – which mankind listened to, for the first time, with a new understanding and insight:
William Anders
“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
“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.
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.”
