A Piece of Reading We Could Never Forget

Apollo 8 was the first mission to circle the Moon. On Christmas Eve, December 24, after a conversation about the Astronauts thoughts on the Moon, Borman announced the crew had a message they would like to send.

Then Anders said:

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.

Lovell continued: 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.

And Borman ended: 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 pause with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth.

Late Christmas Eve, the crew prepared for the return. At 11:42 the spaceship vanished around the far side of the Moon while Mission Control waited for communication to be established again. Would the spacecraft still be in orbit, or would it be on its way home? At 12:10 December 25 the engines were fired. For 37 minutes Mission Control waited out the silence. Then the words came:

Apollo 8, over! Mission Control erupted in cheering Borman informed them : Please be informed, there is a Santa Clause. The first men around the Moon were safely on their way home. By Leon Steyn