Apollo 8 NASA’s Mission on Christmas Eva
A round-trip into space NASA’s First Manned Mission to orbit the nearest neighbor (Apollo 8) took place on December 24, Christmas Eve 1968. More than science: This mission was appropriately dubbed by those who witnessed it as a watershed moment in our collective understanding of the cosmos and mankind’s place within.
In 1968, On Christmas Eve, astronauts Bill Anders, Jim Lovel,l and Frank Borman found themselves orbiting the moon–a celestial body that had dominated human imagination for centuries. It was a quest into the dark regions, an adventure that would prove to be both transformative for us and our view of the cosmos as we have come to understand it.
Knowing that their journey had a historic significance, the crew decided to share it with people everywhere through live television. As the astronauts sent back thrilling views of their moon, just 96 kilometers beneath them and our planet a quarter-million kilometers away, all eyes in The world were heldakespear by this event. Hanging in space, it was an awe-inspiring demonstration of our small planet’s beauty and fragility.
This poetic note was provided by the astronauts, who recited an excerpt from Genesis in which God creates man. With these words, the profound nature of their journey was underscored: Reading from the start: Beginning with Bill Anders–” In the beginning God created heaven and earth. Frank Borman, the next reader- Dear inhabitants of this good Earth–Good night bye old man!
But the reality of 1968 was far from Edenic. The Earth and its people were in great distress. Blood was flowing into the Mekong River as a result of fighting for control of Vietnam, while Soviet tanks crushed Prague only six days after an uprising against Communist rule there. Robert Kennedy and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., two martyred figures from the peace movement on Earth, had been gunned down in senseless slay
Fifty-five years later, the challenges of human suffering may have changed in form, but they remain essentially unchanged. Many lives are lost in wars between countries, internal conflicts and strife. The children take the worst of this violence. From mass shootings to executions, from the staggering number of yearly abortions to the regretful effects of climate change and ponderable hunger around our fallen world, one cannot but look upon it with loathing.
Faced with these challenges, it is clear that as a society we have not yet understood the lessons of compassion and justice or love. The world seen by NASA‘s Apollo 8 crew in its serenity and vastness offers us a view of our realities today, extreme contrasts between celestial splendor and earthly suffering; it demands reflection on introspection.
With Christmas just around the corner, human beings have a chance to make real changes. Lending a helping hand to those caught in the disaster of war, starving because they have nothing: this is indeed what Christmas should be all about. It is the opportunity to concretize compassion, changing someone’s life for the better.
However, charitable acts alone are not the end of responsibility. These astronauts of Apollo 8 achieved not only the dazzling images they returned with, but a momentous message from space as well. The famous Earthrise” photograph from NASA’s Apollo 8 mission, created by Bill Anders, serves as a timeless reminder that all life is one and every effort must be made to cherish our world.
This Christmas, take a moment to look at the picture of “Earthrise” and read Apollo 8’s touching message from Christmas Eve 1968. Through this, everyone has a chance to recover the original goodness within their own bodies and on Earth.
In 1968 On Christmas Day, Apollo 8 astronaut Frank Borman prayed this which hits so close to the mark for today’s predicament: We shall pray together in this way. May we have a vision that can find love amid our human shortcomings, trusting the good even as it is hidden behind ignorance and weakness, working for world peace who are aware of humanity’s fail tures.
During this joyous season, let us make a contribution to the world and work together in caring for our common home–our Earth. NASA,s Apollo 8 mission of 1968 will forever be an inspiration to humankind on its long journey-one of exploration, discovery and especially the search for a higher understanding. We are all here together in this great expanse that is space.
