An Astronaut’s Christmas Eve Message from Space

On Dec. 24, 1968, our nation was in strife.  The war in Vietnam had divided and demoralized the nation; Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy had been assassinated; and the Zodiac Killer was on the loose. 

A nation in need of healing listened as the Apollo 8 astronauts, orbiting the moon, read the creation story from the Old Testament Book of Genesis during a Christmas Eve TV broadcast.  

Astronaut Frank Borman, aboard the Apollo spacecraft, closed with a greeting to Americans:

“…And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you on the good earth.”