Аполлон-8 экипажының Жаратылыс кітабынан оқуы

Reading of the Book of Genesis by Apollo 8 crewmembers

On Christmas Eve, December 24, 1968, the crew of Apollo 8, the first humans to travel to the Moon, read from the Book of Genesis during a television broadcast. During their ninth orbit of the Moon astronauts Bill Anders, Jim Lovell, and Frank Borman recited verses 1 through 10 of the Genesis creation narrative from the King James Bible. Anders read verses 1–4, Lovell verses 5–8, and Borman read verses 9 and 10.

Borman felt that his initial attempts to draft something appropriate sounded too much like an apology for the United States involvement in the Vietnam War, and Joseph Laitin of the Bureau of the Budget (now the Office of Management and Budget) was brought in to assist. Laitin himself had the same problem; his initial drafts centered on the concept of peace on Earth, which felt inappropriate in light of the ongoing war effort, and he began looking through the New Testament to find a good connection between the Christmas season and the biblical accounts of the birth of Jesus. The suggestion to instead look to the Old Testament and use the beginning of Genesis came from Christine Laitin, Joseph Laitin's wife who, as a young teenager, was a member of the French Resistance during the occupation of Paris in World War II.

Madalyn Murray O'Hair, founder of American Atheists, responded by suing the United States government, alleging violations of the First Amendment. The suit was filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas. It was submitted to a three judge panel, which concluded that the case was not a three judge matter, and dismissed the case for failure to state a cause of action. The direct appeal to the Supreme Court was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. Another appeal was heard before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which affirmed the trial court's dismissal per curiam. The Supreme Court declined to review the case.

The page of the flight plan with the Genesis passage is on display at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, on loan from Lovell. In 2018 it was displayed in the National Cathedral in Washington, DC for the fiftieth anniversary of the flight. The Israeli psychedelic trance group Astral Projection used a sample of the recording on their 1995 track "Let There Be Light". Christian rock group Brave Saint Saturn sampled the recording in their song "Under Bridges", from the 2000 album So Far from Home. The East German alternative rock band Down Below samples the recording at the beginning of their song "How To Die In Space", from the 2004 album Silent Wings: Eternity. Michael Jackson used the ending part of the Apollo 8 Genesis on his song "HIStory" from his album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I (1995). The group MGMT used the verses read by Borman as a sample in the song "Come On Christmas", from the 2005 album Climbing To New Lows. The progressive rock band Arena used excerpts of this broadcast in the song "Purgatory Road" from the 2005 Pepper's Ghost album. The Swedish progressive rock band Moon Safari used the first two sentences of Bill Anders' part on their song "Moonwalk". The European electronic duo VNV Nation used a sample of the recording on "Genesis", a song from their 2002 album, Futureperfect. The Dutch DJ Bakermat used the opening verse of the audio in his 2013 single "Uitzicht". Electronic music duo W&W used an excerpt of Anders' verse in their 2013 song "Lift Off".

In the 1995 Space: Above and Beyond episode "The River of Stars," the Apollo 8 recording is played for the 58th "Wildcards" Squadron. The entire reading is reproduced verbatim in the "1968" episode of the 1998 HBO TV miniseries From the Earth to the Moon. An excerpt from James Lovell's section of the reading was used in the 2017 episode "Freedom & Whisky" of the Starz series Outlander (season 3, episode 5).