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The Apollo 8 Genesis reading (NASA produced film)Earthrise, a color photograph of the Earth and Moon by William Anders, December 24, 1968. The television viewers saw a grainy black-and-white image.The Apollo 8 Genesis reading (audio)
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.
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.[5]
James 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.[5]
Frank Borman
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 the 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.[5]
Later, on the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, Buzz Aldrin took Communion on the lunar surface shortly after landing, using bread and wine he brought from his home church congregation. When he tried to speak to the flight crew operations manager and get the permission to broadcast his singular celebration of the Holy Communion service, he was answered with "keep your comments more general".[11] Hence, over the radio he merely asked his listeners to pause and reflect on the events of the last few hours, and give thanks in their own way. He then read the specifically Christian scripture, John 15:5, off-air.[6][12] However, after the Apollo team was reunited and heading back to earth, Aldrin read aloud a second scripture that was scrawled on the same notecard but of a more universally human reference from the Old Testament, Psalm 8:3–4, "When I considered the heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars which Thou hast ordained, what is man that Thou art mindful of him."[13] This reading was broadcast live to the entire earth just as was the Genesis 1 reading so objectionable to O'Hair,[1] is depicted in the 1969 documentary, Footprints on the Moon: Apollo 11[2] (beginning at 1:28:32), but stimulated no further antitheistic legal action.
In popular culture
Apollo 8 commemorative stamp
Art, entertainment, and media
Music and spoken word
Vangelis (Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou) used conversations from lunar landings on his Album 0.39, track Mare Tranquilllitatis.
The East-German alternative rock band Down Below samples the recording at the beginning of their song "How To Die In Space", from the album Silent Wings: Eternity (2004).
The group MGMT used the verses read by Borman as a sample in the song "Come On Christmas", from the album Climbing To New Lows.
The Swedish progressive rock band Moon Safari used the first two sentences of Bill Anders' part on their song "Moonwalk".
The European electronic duo VNV Nation used a sample of the recording on "Genesis", a song from their album, Futureperfect (2002).
The German Artist Chillwalker used a sample of the recording as the main theme on "The Light of God", a song from his first album, Fine tunes del Mar (2007).
The Progressive rock band Arena used excerpts of this broadcast in the song "Purgatory Road" from the Pepper's Ghost (2005).
Electronic music duo W&W used an excerpt of Anders' verse in their song "Lift Off".
^ abcWoods, David; O'Brien, Frank (December 27, 2008). "Day 4: Lunar Orbits 7, 8 and 9". The Apollo 8 Flight Journal. NASA History Division. Retrieved May 4, 2015. (Flight time 086:06:40 to 086:08:39)
^ abChaikin, Andrew (1994). A Man On The Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts. Viking. pp. 204, 623. ISBN0-670-81446-6.
^O'Hair v. Paine, 312 F. Supp. 434, 436, 438 (W.D. Tex. 1969).