The good earth

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Monday, December 25th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. All this week we’ll be looking back at a few of the notable deaths of 2023: politicians, accomplished athletes, religious leaders, business leaders, and cultural icons.

EICHER: We’ll start that look-back with a special Christmas edition of the WORLD History Book.

Apollo astronaut Colonel Frank Borman died on November 7th at the age of 95. He commanded the first mission to orbit the moon.

Fifty- five years ago yesterday, Christmas Eve, the three-astronaut crew sent a message to the nations of the world. The technology of the time we’ve surpassed … but the content of the message, though timeless, is something that probably couldn’t be done today.

WORLD Radio’s executive producer Paul Butler with the story of that broadcast.

PAUL BUTLER: On December 24th, 1968, Jim Lovell, William Anders, and Frank Borman become the first people to witness an “Earthrise.” The famous photo of our planet hanging above the desolate lunar surface is one of the most iconic photographs of the 20th century.

The mission flight plan includes a number of live broadcasts. The fourth—and longest one—is scheduled a few hours after Apollo 8 enters lunar orbit…on Christmas Eve. Before they connect with stations back on earth, Frank Borman walks them through the plan. Audio here from the NASA archives.

BORMAN: And I’ll say a couple words and then we’ll say something about how this kind of reminds me of how it might have started and then you read the first four verses of Genesis, Jim reads the next four, and I’ll read the last two and we’ll say goodnight.

15 years ago the three astronauts spoke at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. During their presentation they gave the backstory to the most memorable part of that Christmas Eve broadcast. Frank Borman explains:

BORMAN: We were told that on Christmas Eve we would have the largest audience that ever listened to a human voice. And the only instructions that we got from NASA was to do “something appropriate.” Joe Layton and his wife—I guess his wife finally came down after—nobody could figure out was appropriate. And they suggested that we read from the first 10 verses of Genesis.

At 9:34 pm Eastern Time on December 24th, 1968, Commander Borman, Command Module Pilot Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot Anders begin the broadcast—sending back television footage from the orbiter.

BROADCAST CLIP: I hope that all of you back on Earth can see what we mean when we say it’s a rather foreboding horizon. A very dark and unappetising looking place…

The images are fuzzy and hard to make out, but the crew tries to put into words what they see.

BROADCAST CLIP: …now you can see the long shadows of the lunar sunrise…

As the 26-minute broadcast comes to a close, the astronauts take turns reading from the book of Genesis...beginning with William Anders:

WILLIAM ANDERS: Now approaching lunar sunrise and for all the people back on earth, the crew of Apollo eight has a message that we would like to send you. In the beginning God created the heavens 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 divided the light from the darkness.

Jim Lovell is next…

JIM LOVELL: Then God called the light day and the darkness he called night. And the evening and the morning was 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 under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And God called the firmament heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

Finally, commander Frank Borman ends the broadcast like this:

FRANK BORMAN: And God said let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into 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.

Later, Frank Borman admits the Christmas Eve broadcast is an emotional experience that shapes the rest of his life. He says he’ll never forget looking back on the earth, and seeing it just hanging there, the only color in the vastness of space.

FRANK BORMAN: 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 this good earth.

MUSIC: [FROM HEAVEN ABOVE TO EARTH I COME BY KALAFINA]
Lyric: From heav'n above to earth I come, to bear good news to every home; glad tidings of great joy I bring, whereof I now will say and sing…

That’s this week’s WORLD History Book. I’m Paul Butler. Merry Christmas.

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