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decodeddiesel
12-24-08, 09:39
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo8_xmas.html


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."

Merry Christmas everyone.

randyman_ar
12-24-08, 10:14
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo8_xmas.html



Merry Christmas everyone.

My how times have changed. Sad, but if they did that today there would be some group suing for separation of church and state since nasa is government funded. By the way I just saw a documentary on the space program (Ron Howard I think). Excellent!

decodeddiesel
12-24-08, 11:03
I am an atheist, yet I find the words to be appropriate and even profound given the context.

Alpha Sierra
12-24-08, 14:19
I am an atheist, yet I find the words to be appropriate and even profound given the context.

Unfortunately not everyone is as enlightened as you. It appears our national pastime is not baseball any more but looking for things to take offense over.

decodeddiesel
12-24-08, 14:32
Unfortunately not everyone is as enlightened as you. It appears our national pastime is not baseball any more but looking for things to take offense over.

True. I wasn't trying to start a thread about the woes of American society in the 2000s, just being nostalgic about an historic event which occurred on 40 years ago today.