39 Years Ago Today

Most people know about Apollo 11, the first moon landing by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. I remember the Apollo space era as a young boy and remember Apollo 11, as well as the drama of Apollo 13. But preceding these missions was Apollo 8, which may have been even a bigger milestone.

After years of testing the limits of space within earth’s orbit, Apollo 8 was the first manned spaceship to actually travel to the moon and inject itself into lunar orbit. With the moon 250,000 miles away, such a mission took an immense amount of planning. Getting to the vicinity of the moon was relatively simple, but getting the spacecraft into lunar orbit, and more importantly to get back out, was a marvel of ingenuity and planning. In reality, the spaceship was programmed to do much of this work.

Thirty-nine years ago today, the crew of Apollo 8 (Borman, Lovell, and Anders) successfully injected themselves into lunar orbit. For perhaps the biggest television audience ever, the crew reported their observations (orbiting only 60 miles from the surface of the moon). The crew had a special Christmas message for that audience:

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 the 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.
And God called the light Day,a nd the darkness He called Night.
And the evening and the morning were the first day . . .
And God called the firmament Heaven.
And the evening and the morning were the second day.
And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters called He seas.
And God saw that it was good.

Interestingly, the crew of Apollo 8 learned more about the earth by visiting the moon. The most magnificent image was when the Earth rose from the horizon of the gray, dark moon (pictured at the top). And that is how 1968 went on Christmas Eve. One person sent their congratulations to the homeward bound astronauts, saying “Thank you Apollo 8. You saved 1968." After a turbulent year of assassinations, riots, and war, the astronauts of Apollo 8 were named Time Magazine's Men of Year.

I hope everyone will appreciate and cherish this 2007 Christmas season.