With Artemis II reaching the moon’s sphere of gravitational influence today, I think it is appropriate to look back at Apollo 8. The Apollo 8 crew (Frank Borman, Bill Anders, and Jim Lovell) were the first humans to orbit the moon. On Christmas Eve 1968 as the lunar sunrise approached, they sent a brief, televised message back to earth that was seen by almost one billion people worldwide.
You can experience the message in a YouTube video:
Apollo 8 Christmas Eve Message
What the astronauts said that day only lasts for a couple of minutes. But their words and the included view of the earth as seen from the Apollo 8 spacecraft are as inspirational and awe-inspiring as anything I have ever seen. The rest of the video provides some of the backstory for the message. The astronauts, interviewed much later, talk about how they were informed they would be doing a TV broadcast but left on their own about what to say. They also reveal the source of the idea to read from Genesis.
Before today I had never seen the YouTube video linked to above. I found it and several similar videos in a simple Bing search when I was doing research for this post. I wasn’t surprised to find them.
Instead, I first learned about the Christmas Eve message a few years ago while reading Rocket Men, Robert Kurson’s 2018 book about the Apollo 8 mission. The way Kurson sets up the sequence of events and then describes them is masterful. His retelling of the story is as good if not better than the YouTube video. You might get goosebumps if you read it. I did.
Realistically most people aren’t going to read Kurson’s book. That’s why I included a link to the YouTube video. So, book or video? Take your pick. Both convey the inspiring and timeless message the Apollo 8 crew sent back to earth. They also show how our astronauts are among the best and brightest humans our country has to offer.
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