THE CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE

In December 1968, NASA launched the first manned mission to the moon. No one, not even the astronauts on board, was sure they could return safely. Their journey, the most perilous and perilous they have ever undertaken, took them to the borders of another world and, more remarkably, brought peace to their own world.

It was just after 5:30 a.m. on Christmas Eve when something remarkable happened. After the astronauts on board discovered the barren far side of the moon for the first time, they took a photo that has since been known as “Earthrise.” Despite all the turmoil, tragedy and political unrest that the world experienced in 1968, this iconic, indelible image captured the beauty and fragility of our home planet.

And then the astronauts delivered a message to the largest audience in human history, as more than a billion people around the world watched on television. It was a sentiment for all humanity and came straight from the pages of the Bible. As the nation waited in prayerful contemplation, astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders spoke the following words:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

And the earth was desolate and empty; and darkness lay upon the depths. And the Spirit of God moved on the water.

And God said: Let there be light! And there was light.

And God saw the light, that it was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.

And God called the light day and the darkness night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

And God said, There shall be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and it shall divide the waters from the waters.

And God made the firmament and separated the waters that were under the firmament from the waters that were above the firmament. And so it happened.

And God called the firmament heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

And God said, The waters under heaven shall be gathered into one place, and the dry land shall be seen. And so it happened.

And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering of the waters he called seas; And god saw, that it was good.

– Genesis 1:1-10 KJV

Less than a day later, in the early hours of Christmas morning 1968, the crew of Apollo 8 began their long journey home, covering 250,000 miles, making it the longest holiday voyage in the world. The Apollo 8 mission certainly proved that man could reach the moon, but more importantly, it showed how vast our universe is and how powerful our God is.

Today, 55 years after Apollo 8's historic mission into lunar orbit, it is still seen as a journey that forever changed the way we view our planet.