The Apollo 8 Christmas Eve Broadcast
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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."
COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT, INCLUDING ON-BOARD CONVERSATION AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMENTARY:
086:05:53 Anders (onboard): Is this our landing site we're going over now?
086:05:55 Lovell (onboard): Yes, this is our landing site right down here.
086:05:58 Anders (onboard): We're now going over our...
086:05:53 Lovell (onboard): Approaching our landing site.
086:06:00 Anders: ...approaching one of our future landing sites...
086:06:00 Lovell (onboard): Right now.
086:06:02 Anders: ...selected in this smooth region to...
086:06:05 Lovell (onboard): Called the Sea of Tranquility.
086:06:67 Anders: ...called the Sea of Tranquility - smooth in order to make it easy for the initial landing attempts in order to preclude having to dodge mountains. Now you can see the long shadows of the lunar sunrise. [Long pause.]
086:06:26 Borman (onboard): Hey, why don't we start reading that thing, and that would be a good place to end it.
086:06:34 Lovell (onboard): No, we've got to go into it very nicely. Why don't we - as we go into sunset...
086:06:36 Anders (onboard): Right.
086:06:37 Lovell (onboard): ...or is it sunrise? This is sunrise, yes. We're approaching lunar sunrise.
086:06:40 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.
086:06:56 Anders: 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. [Pause.]
086:07:24 Lovell (onboard): You got it, Frank.
086:07:25 Borman (onboard): No, it's your...
086:07:29 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. [Pause.]
086:07:59 Borman (onboard): Can you hold this camera?
086:08:00 Anders (onboard): You want to pass it over here, Jim?
086:08:02 Borman (onboard): No, it's perfect right where it is.
086:08:03 Anders (onboard): Okay.
086:08:07 Borman: And God said, "Let the waters under the Heavens be gathered together into 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.
[Comm break.]
086:08:39 Lovell (onboard): That's it.
086:08:40 Borman (onboard): Don't say anymore now.
086:08:41 Anders (onboard): I just turned it Off. You want it On again?
086:08:42 Borman (onboard): No. leave it Off. Great! Great!
086:08:43 Anders (onboard): Off?
086:08:44 Borman (onboard): Yes.
086:08:45 Anders (onboard): Okay.
086:08:46 Lovell (onboard): Camera's Off?
086:08:47 Anders (onboard): Yes.
086:08:49 Borman (onboard): Hey, how can you beat that? Geeze, we just went into the terminator right in time.
086:08:54 Lovell (onboard): Okay, let's get the spacecraft back in even keel again. Here, here's this, Frank.
086:09:06 Borman (onboard): All right, let's get the Flight Plan out here.
086:09:09 Borman (onboard): We've got to get it.
086:09:11 Lovell (onboard): Okay.
086:09:21 Anders (onboard): Whew! Pretty impressive out there.
086:09:22 Borman (onboard): Boy, it sure is.
086:09:37 Borman (onboard): Okay, men.
086:09:39 Lovell (onboard): It's 86 hours.
Public Affairs Officer - "This is Apollo Control, Houston. The speakers in the order that they read from what we believe to be chapters from Genesis were Bill Anders and Jim Lovell, and close out with Frank Borman. That's both biblical and a geological lesson that none of us will forget. At 86 hours and 9 minutes into the flight, this is Apollo Control, Houston."