Apollo 8 Genesis reading

On December 24,1968, in what was the most watched television broadcast to date, the crew of Apollo 8 read in turn from the Book of Genesis as they orbited the moon. William Anders, Jim Lovell, and Frank Borman recited verses 1 through 10, using the King James Version text. [cite web|url=http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo8_xmas.html|title=The Apollo 8 Christmas Eve Broadcast|publisher=NASA National Space Science Data Center|date=25 September 2007|accessdate=2008-04-12]

Transcript

;William 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 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. And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmasndash and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth."

Lawsuit

Madalyn Murray O'Hair, an atheist, responded by suing the United States government, alleging violations of the First Amendment.Fact|date=April 2008 The suit was dismissed by the Supreme Court due to lack of jurisdiction. After Buzz Aldrin took communion on the lunar surface shortly after his landing on Apollo 11, he kept his actions secret for many years.cite book|author=Chaikin, Andrew|title=A Man On The Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts|publisher=Viking|isbn=0-670-81446-6|date=1994|pages=204,623]

In Popular Culture

Excerpts from the recorded readings of the astronauts feature prominently in the album Music of the Spheres" (1994) by Mike Oldfield .

The European electronic duo VNV Nation use a sample of the transcript on "Genesis", a song from their 2002 album, Futureperfect.

Notes

External links