The Word of God read from the Moon
8 Jan 2024
55 Years ago, the Apollo 8 spacecraft took 3 men on mankind’s first visit to the moon. During their mission, they orbited the moon 10 times. Six telecasts were conducted during the mission. These were transmitted worldwide and in real time to all five continents.
The mission was also famous for the iconic “Earthrise” image, snapped by Anders, which would give humankind a new perspective on their home planet. On the final orbit, on Christmas Eve 1968, they did their final telecast and they took it in turns to speak to the world.
Lunar Module Pilot William A. Anders began. “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.” He then read Genesis 1 vs1-4.
Command Module Pilot James A. Lovell, Jr. then read vs5-8.
Commander Frank F. Borman, read vs 9-10 and 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.”
One in four people on Earth, roughly a billion people spread among 64 countries, listened to the reading. Within 24 hours, recorded broadcasts of the address from the moon reached people in another 30 countries. This was a truly historic event for the Word of God!
