Space

On Christmas Eve in 1968, the Apollo 8 mission captured an image that reminded humanity how fragile our home is.

ByRon Brackett•

December 27, 2018

Updated: December 27, 2018, 5:22 pm ESTPublished: December 27, 2018, 5:22 pm EST

50 Years Ago Man First Visited the Moon

Fifty years ago Monday, Dec. 24, 1968, three astronauts saw a view of Earth that no human had seen before.

On that Christmas Eve, the crew of NASA's Apollo 8 — Frank Borman, Bill Anders and Jim Lovell — were circling the moon looking for potential landing sites for future missions.

Anders' job was to take photos of the moon's surface. As Borman rolled the ship, something caught Anders' eye.

"Oh my God, look at that picture over there! It's the Earth coming up. Wow, is that pretty!" Anders exclaimed.

With a slight chuckle, Commander Borman said, "Hey, don't take that, it's not scheduled."

NASA's mission parameters included nothing about taking pictures of the Earth.

"When the Earth came up over the lunar horizon, that's when it really impressed me as to how much more delicate the Earth was," Anders said in a recent interview with the Today show's Harry Smith.

Earth rises over the lunar horizon in this image that came to be known as "Earthrise." It was made by Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders on Christmas Eve in 1968.
(Bill Anders/NASA)

Later that evening, the crew did a live TV broadcast, showing images of the Earth and moon to what has been described as the largest TV audience in history at the time.

"The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth," Lovell told the viewers.

The broadcast ended with the crew reading from the book of Genesis. Anders began:

"For all the people on Earth the crew of Apollo 8 has a message we would like to send 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...."

William Anders, left, James A. Lovell Jr., and Frank Borman were the first astronauts to orbit the moon on Dec. 24, 1968.
(NASA)

As NPR writes, the photo that came to be known as "Earthrise" remains one of the most iconic images ever taken in space. Anders said it forever changed the way people think about the Earth.

"The only color that we could see and contrasted by this really unfriendly, stark lunar horizon, made me think, 'You know, we really live on a beautiful little planet,' " he said.

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