Apollo 8 Genesis Reading

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On 24 December 1968, in what was the most watched television broadcast to date, the crew of Apollo 8 surprised the world with a reading from Genesis as they orbited the moon. The reading was according to the King James Version.

[edit] Transcript

January 3, 1969 cover of TIME Magazine with the Apollo 8 crew

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.

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."

[edit] Lawsuit

A suit had later been brought by Madalyn Murray O'Hair, an atheist. The suit was rejected by the Supreme Court. Because of this suit, when Buzz Aldrin took communion on the lunar surface shortly after his landing on Apollo 11, he kept his actions secret for many years afterwards.

[edit] Trivia

Clips of this broadcast were used in the VNV Nation song 'Genesis'.
Anders' portion of the reading was sampled in the Astral Projection song 'Let There Be Light'.
Samples of this can be heard at several points during 'The Deepening', a horror movie by Jim O'Rear and Ted Alderman.

A Japanese correspondent staying at a Houston hotel while covering the mission called NASA Public Affairs to request a copy of the speech that the astronauts were reading. The Public Affairs official asked where he was staying and then told him that if he opened the desk drawer in his room he would find a book and that he should open it to page one. The reporter found the Gideon Bible and later reported that "NASA Public Affairs is very efficient - they had a mission transcript waiting in my hotel room."

Dr. Thomas Paine, NASA administrator, said that the mission was "a triumph of the squares, the guys with computers and sliderules who read the Bible on Christmas Eve."