“Earthrise” is the iconic photo taken on Christmas Eve, 1968, by astronaut William A. Anders. Photo courtesy of NASA.
By Brooke Edwards, Area NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador
It is debatable which celestial object was followed by the three wise men of the first Christmas. What we do know is the first time a human-made “Christmas Star” orbited the Moon. This is the story of Apollo 8, and the crew’s unforgettable Christmas Eve message.
On December 21, 1968, three brave men left their families and Earth behind during the holiday season for a trip unlike any before it. While others went about their holiday traditions, astronauts James Lovell Jr., Commander Frank Borman, and William A. Anders launched from Pad 39A aboard a Saturn V rocket. Like a star shooting across the sky, the crew of Apollo 8 headed toward the Moon, marking humanity’s first attempt to orbit our rocky satellite.
During the mission, multiple transmissions were made for American and international television. These broadcasts displayed images of Earth and our Moon, as well as views from inside the spacecraft and messages from the crew. However, the broadcast that made the history books was the one given by the Apollo 8 crew on December 24, 1968.
On that Christmas Eve, the same day the iconic Earthrise photo was taken by Anders, around a billion people worldwide turned to their televisions. While the astronauts’ families celebrated the holiday season without them and anxiously awaited their return, the crew spent the first-ever Christmas in lunar orbit. NASA and the Apollo 8 crew had decided the occasion must be shared with the people of Earth. Views of Earth and Moon were broadcast for just under 27 minutes and the crew ended their message by taking turns reading from the book of Genesis.
The reading concluded with an unforgettable quote by Borman: “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.”
Looking back in awe on this first Christmas in space, as well as the ones currently broadcast from the International Space Station, we ponder this question: Might we see, yet in our lifetimes, the first holiday season celebrated on Mars?
We hope to see the Christmas launch of the James Webb Space Telescope tomorrow at 7:20 a.m. EST. Read a “layman’s” explanation about the telescope here: https://freshwater-reporter.com/nasa-builds-a-new-time-machine/
You can read some of the Apollo 8 crew’s message or listen to the broadcast here: https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo8_xmas.html
