Christmas Eve and Apollo 8: 40 years ago today
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.
"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.
The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site
Posted by Rob on Wednesday, December 24, 2008
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1 Comments:
Thanks for sharing that, Rob! 40 years ago - three human astronauts sharing those words with the inhabitants of a very troubled planet in a very troubled time...it really placed things in a whole new perspective. I don't think the 'big' concerns of the day seemed as big. Though that was before my time even though I'm aware of the scene from documentaries, I think seeing recent images of the Earth from beyond the Moon like this image from NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft (http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=8933)have a big impact and really put our world in perspective. Though I think having human missions is still a very important part of really comprehending and sharing that perspective, too. Of course, that's why we also need to send people with all the right stuff on a human mission - perhaps even an SF writer ;)
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