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{{short description|Reading of the Book of Genesis by Apollo 8 crewmembers}}
[[File:Apollo 8 Genesis Reading.webm|thumb|The Apollo 8 Genesis reading (NASA produced film)]]
[[File:Apollo 8 genesis reading.ogg|right|thumb|The Apollo 8 Genesis reading (audio)]]
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/>

==Transcript==
;'''Bill 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.
<blockquote>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.<ref name=flt-jrnl-ap8-day4 /></blockquote>

;'''Jim Lovell''':
<blockquote>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.<ref name=flt-jrnl-ap8-day4 /></blockquote>

;'''Frank Borman''':
<blockquote>And God said, Let the waters under the heaven 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.</blockquote>
:And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a [[Merry Christmas]]&nbsp;– and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth.<ref name=flt-jrnl-ap8-day4>{{cite web |last1=Woods|first1=David |last2=O'Brien|first2=Frank |work=The Apollo 8 Flight Journal |title=Day 4: Lunar Orbits 7, 8 and 9 |url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/ap08fj/15day4_orbits789.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090109121732/http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/ap08fj/15day4_orbits789.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 9, 2009 |publisher=NASA History Division |access-date=May 4, 2015 |date=December 27, 2008}} (Flight time 086:06:40 to 086:08:39)</ref>

==Lawsuit==
[[Madalyn Murray O'Hair]], founder of [[American Atheists]], responded by suing the United States government, alleging violations of the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]].<ref name = "aldrin">{{cite book|author=Chaikin, Andrew|title=A Man On The Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts|publisher=Viking|isbn=0-670-81446-6|year=1994|pages=[https://archive.org/details/manonmoonvoyages00chai/page/204 204], 623|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/manonmoonvoyages00chai}}</ref> The suit was filed in the [[United States District Court for the Western District of Texas]]. It was submitted to a [[three-judge panel]], which concluded that the case was not a three-judge matter, and dismissed the case for failure to state a cause of action.<ref>{{cite court|litigants=O'Hair v. Paine|vol=312|reporter=F. Supp.|opinion=434|pinpoint=436, 438|court=W.D. Tex.|date=1969 |url=https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/312/434/1468840/}}</ref> The direct appeal to the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.<ref>''O'Hair v. Paine'', {{ussc|397|531|1970}}.</ref> Another appeal was heard before the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit|Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals]], which affirmed the trial court's dismissal ''[[per curiam]]''.<ref>{{cite court|litigants=O'Hair v. Paine|vol=432|reporter=F.2d|opinion=66|court=5th Cir.|date=1970 |url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=4365374099156957303}}</ref> The Supreme Court declined to review the case.<ref>''O'Hair v. Paine'', {{ussc|401|955|1971}}.</ref>

==Artifacts==
The page of the flight plan with the Genesis passage is on display at the [[Adler Planetarium]] in Chicago, on loan from Lovell.<ref name="50th">{{cite web |title=Spirit of Apollo - 50th Anniversary of Apollo 8 (NHQ201812110003) |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/44472582940 |website=Flickr |publisher=NASA |access-date=March 20, 2020 |date=December 11, 2018}}</ref> In 2018 it was displayed in the [[National Cathedral]] in Washington, DC for the fiftieth anniversary of the flight.<ref name="50th"/>

==In popular culture==
[[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.

===Art, entertainment, and media===

====Music and spoken word====
* [[Mike Oldfield]] used a part of the reading of Bill Anders in the first and second song of his 1994 album ''[[The Songs of Distant Earth (album)|The Songs of Distant Earth]]''.<ref>CD cover reference in ''The Songs of Distant Earth'' - Mike Oldfield - 1994</ref>
*The Israeli psychedelic trance group [[Astral Projection (band)|Astral Projection]] used a sample of the recording on their 1995 track "Let There Be Light".
*Christian rock group [[Brave Saint Saturn]] sampled the recording in their song "Under Bridges", from the 2000 album ''[[So Far from Home]]''.
*The East-German alternative rock band Down Below samples the recording at the beginning of their song "How To Die In Space", from the 2004 album ''Silent Wings: Eternity''.
*[[Michael Jackson]] used the ending part of the Apollo 8 Genesis on his song "[[HIStory (song)|HIStory]]" from his album ''[[HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I]]'' (1995).
*The group [[MGMT]] used the verses read by Borman as a sample in the song "Come On Christmas", from the 2005 album ''Climbing To New Lows''.
*The progressive rock band [[Arena (band)|Arena]] used excerpts of this broadcast in the song "Purgatory Road" from the 2005 ''[[Pepper's Ghost]]'' album.
*The Swedish progressive rock band [[Moon Safari (band)|Moon Safari]] used the first two sentences of Bill Anders' part on their song "Moonwalk".
*The European electronic duo [[VNV Nation]] used a [[sampling (music)|sample]] of the recording on "Genesis", a song from their 2002 album, ''[[Futureperfect]]''.
*The [[Netherlands|Dutch]] DJ [[Bakermat]] used the opening verse of the audio in his 2013 single "Uitzicht".
*Electronic music duo [[W&W]] used an excerpt of Anders' verse in their 2013 song "Lift Off".

====Television====
*In the 1995 ''[[Space: Above and Beyond]]'' episode "The River of Stars," the Apollo 8 recording is played for the 58th "Wildcards" Squadron.
*The entire reading is reproduced verbatim in the "1968" episode of the 1998 [[HBO]] [[miniseries|TV miniseries]] ''[[From the Earth to the Moon (TV miniseries)|From the Earth to the Moon]]''.
*An excerpt from James Lovell's section of the reading was used in the 2017 episode "Freedom & Whisky" of the [[Starz]] series ''[[Outlander (TV series)|Outlander]]'' (season 3, episode 5).

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Spaceflight}}
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njpWalYduU4 Genesis reading from Apollo 8]
* {{cite web |last1=Woods |first1=David |last2=O'Brien |first2=Frank |title=Apollo 8 Flight Journal; Day 4: Lunar Orbit 9 |url=https://history.nasa.gov/afj/ap08fj/21day4_orbit9.html |website=NASA History Division |publisher=NASA |access-date=March 20, 2020}}
{{commons category|Apollo 8 Genesis reading|Apollo 8 Genesis Reading}}

[[Category:Apollo 8]]
[[Category:Astronomical controversies]]
[[Category:Book of Genesis]]
[[Category:1968 in spaceflight]]
[[Category:Christianity-related controversies]]
[[Category:History of television]]
[[Category:December 1968 events]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:William Anders]]
[[Category:Frank Borman]]
[[Category:Jim Lovell]]
[[Category:Genesis 1]]
[[Category:Reading of religious texts]]
[[Category:King James Version]]

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