Editing Apollo 8 Genesis reading

[[File:As8 genesis1a.ogv|thumb|The [[Apollo 8]] 1968 Christmas Eve broadcast and reading from the [[Book of Genesis]]]]

On[[Christmas Eve]], December 24, 1968, the crew of [[Apollo 8]], the first humans to travel to the Moon, read from the [[Book of Genesis]] during a television broadcast. During their ninth orbit of the Moon astronauts [[William Anders|Bill Anders]], [[Jim Lovell]], and [[Frank Borman]] recited verses 1 through 10 of the [[Genesis creation narrative]] from the [[King James Version|King James Bible]].<ref>{{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=September 25, 2007|access-date=2008-04-12| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080419065805/http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo8_xmas.html| archive-date= 19 April 2008 | url-status= live}}</ref> Anders read verses 1–4, Lovell verses 5–8, and Borman read verses 9 and 10.

==Broadcast==

{{quote|text=Around the world, television sets glowed with the broadcast. 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. Audiences in North and South America as well as Europe tuned in live thanks to the recently launched [[Intelsat III F-2|Intelsat 3]] satellite. [[COMSAT]] put the satellite into operation a week ahead of schedule so that international audiences could follow the flight.|author=Teasel Muir-Harmony|title=How Apollo 8 Delivered Christmas Eve Peace and Understanding to the World<ref>{{cite web |last1=Muir-Harmony |first1=Teasel |title=How Apollo 8 Delivered Christmas Eve Peace and Understanding to the World |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/how-apollo-8-delivered-moment-christmas-eve-peace-and-understanding-world-180976431/ |publisher=Smithsonian Magazine |access-date=22 September 2021 |date=11 December 2020}}</ref>}}

==Drafting, and Christina Laitin's suggestion to read from Genesis==

[[Apollo 8]] commander [[Frank Borman]] felt that his initial attempts to draft something appropriate to say on their Christmas Eve broadcast sounded too much like an apology for the [[United States involvement in the Vietnam War]], and Joseph Laitin of the Bureau of the Budget (now the [[Office of Management and Budget]]) was brought in to assist.<ref name = "WaPo 1995">{{cite news | last=Smith | first=J.Y. | title = Christine Laitin Dies at 65| newspaper = [[The Washington Post]] | date = April 6, 1995 | url =https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1995/04/06/christine-laitin-dies-at-65/62c0b636-aee2-479d-81a5-5ea52179e5cc/| access-date = July 17, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Shribman |first1=David M. |title='God bless all of you on the good Earth': Remembering the daring Apollo 8 mission - The Boston Globe |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2018/12/22/god-bless-all-you-good-earth-remembering-daring-apollo-mission/gfZV91DpAuDshKGEOEMfJK/story.html |access-date=March 20, 2020 |work=Boston Globe |date=December 22, 2018}}</ref> Laitin had the same problem; his initial drafts centered on the concept of peace on Earth, which felt inappropriate in light of the ongoing war effort. He began looking through the [[New Testament]] to find a good connection between the Christmas season and the biblical accounts of the [[birth of Jesus]].<ref name=Watkins>{{cite book |last1=Watkins |first1=Billy |title=Apollo Moon Missions: The Unsung Heroes |date=2007 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-0-8032-6041-2 |pages=70–71 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zc-k7Dm91eMC&pg=PA70 |language=en}}</ref>

The suggestion to instead look to the [[Old Testament]] and use the beginning of Genesis came from Christine Laitin, Joseph Laitin's wife who, as a young teenager, was a member of the [[French Resistance]] during the occupation of Paris in World War II.<ref name = "WaPo 1995"/><ref name=Watkins/>

The Genesis text was printed on fire-proof paper and included in the mission [[flight plan]].<ref name=Watkins/>

[[File:Scott 1371, Apollo 8.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Apollo 8 commemorative stamp, issued in 1969]]

===Postage stamp===

In 1969, the United States Postal Service issued a [[commemorative stamp|postage stamp]] ([[Scott catalogue|Scott]] # 1371) to commemorate the Apollo 8 mission and the Genesis reading. The stamp includes the words "In the beginning God...", with the Apollo 8 ''[[Earthrise]]'' image in the background.