December 24, 2016

Christmas Eve from Lunar Orbit, 1968. We Were Great Then. Time to Be Great Again.

On December 24, 1968, in what was the most watched television broadcast at the time, the crew of Apollo 8 read in turn from the Book of Genesis as they orbited the moon. Bill Anders, Jim Lovell, and Frank Borman recited the passage of Genesis 1:1-10, using the King James Version.

Bill 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 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 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."

Posted by gerardvanderleun at December 24, 2016 3:30 PM
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"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.

Oh, do I remember...

Watching it on our old TV, and continually walking out in the backyard of our rent house in San Antonio and staring at the moon in the sky. My four-year-old daughter slept through it while we whispered so we wouldn't wake her up.

I had it all, for another couple of years. These days I just don't allow myself to think about it, because that's the way I eventually survived losing all of it. Another world, another time, never to be that safe again.

Posted by: Rob De Witt at December 24, 2016 5:13 PM

@ Rob-

Life is a roller coaster. Merry Christmas, friend.

Posted by: Terry at December 24, 2016 6:11 PM

And then the Jews moved in.

Posted by: Bill Jones at December 24, 2016 7:51 PM

Yes, and among those Jews were: Jesus, some of his disciples, Nobel Prize winners in medicine and other life-saving categories, Israeli (mostly Jewish) rescue teams usually first to arrive to help earthquake and flood victims, medical researchers and doctors and nurses in the 1000's -- emissaries of Christ if you believe, as He said, " I am always becoming what you have need of me to be."

What is the ratio of badly behaving Jews to goodly behaving Jews?
Your neighbors did not choose you because you were hateful. When did you choose your attitude and choose to generalize it, and why?

Posted by: Howard Nelson at December 24, 2016 9:50 PM

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to Gerard and all! Beginning today, America and Christmas are, Great Again!

Posted by: MOTUS at December 25, 2016 6:01 AM
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