Christmas in Space Worksheet Download

Picture this: it is Christmas Eve, 1968, and three astronauts are floating in a small spacecraft about 240,000 miles from home. Outside the window, a gray, crater-covered Moon glides by. Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders, the crew of Apollo 8, are the first people ever to orbit the Moon. Can you imagine spending Christmas Eve so far from everyone you love?

Getting there took three days, starting on December 21, when a Saturn V rocket, taller than the Statue of Liberty, blasted off from Florida. Then the crew fired their engine to slow down, and the Moon's gravity, its invisible pulling force, caught the spacecraft. During ten loops of about two hours each, they became the first people to see the Moon's far side, always hidden from Earth.

But the biggest surprise was Earth itself, a bright blue-and-white ball rising above the gray horizon. Anders grabbed a camera and snapped the picture now called Earthrise. Nobody had planned it, because the crew had come to photograph the Moon. Many people say it helped them see our planet as one small, shared home.

That small, shared home was watching on Christmas Eve, when the astronauts switched on a television camera. Millions of people tuned in to see grainy black-and-white pictures of the Moon. Then each astronaut read from the Book of Genesis, which begins the Bible's story of creation. Borman ended with, “Good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you—all of you on the good Earth.”

Astronauts still send holiday greetings from above the good Earth, now from the International Space Station. It circles about 250 miles high, so its crew sees about 16 sunrises and sunsets every day, even on Christmas Day. They hang decorations, enjoy special holiday foods, and video chat with their families. Those astronauts flew almost a quarter of a million miles to the Moon, yet the photo people remember best shows home.

Here is a Christmas puzzle: why does one of the most famous pictures from a trip to the Moon show Earth instead? The answer begins on December 24, 1968, when astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders became the first people ever to orbit the Moon. Their spacecraft, Apollo 8, was about 240,000 miles from home, farther than any humans had ever traveled. Can you imagine spending Christmas Eve in a cramped cabin while gray, bumpy craters slid slowly past your window?

Looking at that gray, silent world made the crew think of everyone back home, so they planned a special Christmas Eve television broadcast. Millions of people on Earth tuned in to see fuzzy black-and-white pictures of the Moon's surface and of Earth far away. Then the astronauts took turns reading the opening verses of the Book of Genesis, the Bible's story of creation, which is treasured by both Christians and Jews. Borman ended by wishing a Merry Christmas to everyone on "the good Earth."

That good Earth was about to put on a show that no person had ever watched in person. As the spacecraft swung around the Moon, the crew spotted a blue-and-white Earth rising above the gray horizon. Anders grabbed a camera and, with Lovell's help, snapped a color photo that became known as Earthrise. The astronauts had come to study the Moon, yet many people say the picture's biggest lesson is how small and precious our planet looks.

That small, bright Earth was home, and the crew still had to get back to it. On Christmas Day, they fired their engine to leave the Moon's orbit and head home after ten trips around the Moon. Soon afterward, Lovell radioed Mission Control with a cheerful message: "Please be informed, there is a Santa Claus." Apollo 8 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on December 27, 1968, ending a journey of about six days.

Splashdown was not the end of Christmas in space, since astronauts still celebrate the holiday high above Earth. The International Space Station orbits about 250 miles above Earth and circles it about every 90 minutes, so crews see about 16 sunrises each day. Crews there have hung stockings, put up decorations, shared special foods, and video-called their families. Even so, that first Christmas Eve at the Moon still holds a surprise: after flying farther from home than anyone before, the astronauts came back with a picture of home itself.

Most people think the Moon's big moment came when Neil Armstrong stepped onto it in 1969, but the moment that made the world stop and look up came months earlier, and nobody landed at all. On December 24, 1968, Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders became the first people to orbit the Moon aboard Apollo 8. Picture their spacecraft gliding about 70 miles above a gray, crater-pocked surface while home floated in the blackness like a tiny blue-and-white marble. They were roughly 240,000 miles from Earth, farther than any humans had ever traveled. Yet on that lonely Christmas Eve, they had one more job: saying hello to everyone back home.

Saying hello across nearly a quarter of a million miles meant sending live television, and the crew pulled it off. Millions of people watched grainy black-and-white pictures of the gray Moon sliding past the window. Then the astronauts took turns reading the opening verses of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, which is sacred to Christians and Jews. Borman signed off with the words, "Good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth." Can you imagine hearing that voice from the Moon while your family sat by the tree?

That "good Earth" soon stole the show, because the trip's most famous photograph shows our planet instead of the Moon. Earlier that day, as the spacecraft swung out from behind the Moon, Anders spotted Earth rising above the gray horizon. The crew scrambled for color film, and Anders snapped the picture now called "Earthrise," a glowing blue-and-white ball hanging over a barren world. Here is the twist: Earth only seemed to rise because the spacecraft was speeding around the Moon. That trick of motion produced one of the most famous photographs in history.

Part of the reason it became so famous is that a mission built to explore the Moon taught people to look back at home. Earth floated alone in the darkness, small and delicate as a soap bubble. Many people say the photo helped inspire the environmental movement and the first Earth Day in 1970. Apollo 8 also proved that people could fly to the Moon and safely return, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on December 27, 1968. I think the greatest gift of that trip was not a moon rock, but a new view of home.

That view of home is still shared every day aboard the International Space Station, which circles about 250 miles above Earth. Crews have lived there nonstop since November 2000, and at Christmas they hang stockings and video-call family. Because the station orbits Earth about 16 times a day, astronauts see about 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets in every 24 hours. Many share photographs of glowing cities and green auroras online for everyone to see. It all began when three astronauts traveled 240,000 miles to explore the Moon and ended up giving the world a new picture of home.

Hold your thumb out at arm's length and you can blot out something as big as a planet, as long as you are far enough away. That is just what astronaut Jim Lovell did at Christmastime in 1968, when the planet was Earth and he was about a quarter of a million miles away. Lovell, Frank Borman, and William Anders were aboard Apollo 8, the first spacecraft to carry people around the Moon. Outside their windows lay a gray, cratered, silent world, while back home families were lighting candles and hanging stockings. How could a Christmas message possibly cross that enormous gap?

Nobody had ever crossed that gap before, and NASA had decided only in the summer of 1968 to send Apollo 8 around the Moon. A giant Saturn V rocket launched the crew from Florida on December 21, and about three days later they slipped into orbit around the Moon. Over roughly twenty hours they circled it ten times, becoming the first people to see the far side, which always faces away from us, with their own eyes. Each time they swung behind the Moon, radio contact with Earth cut out completely until they came around again.

When the radio crackled back to life, the crew had a job bigger than sightseeing: a live television broadcast on Christmas Eve that millions of people around the world watched. The pictures were grainy, so the words had to do the heavy lifting. Taking turns, Anders, Lovell, and Borman read the first ten verses of the Book of Genesis, a creation story found in both the Jewish and Christian Bibles. A passage about beginnings sounded just right coming from people who were seeing their own world from a brand-new distance. Borman ended with, 'Good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you—all of you on the good Earth.'

That good Earth had already stolen the show earlier that day, when it popped up over the Moon's gray horizon. Nobody had planned a photo shoot, but Anders grabbed a camera and snapped the color picture now known as Earthrise. Here is the twist: on the Moon's near side, Earth would hardly move across the sky, because the Moon keeps one face turned toward us, so the famous 'rise' is something only an orbiting traveler sees. Anders later said that the crew had come all that way to explore the Moon, but the most important thing they discovered was Earth.

Discovering Earth was one thing, but getting back to it meant firing the engine at just the right moment while hidden behind the Moon. On Christmas morning the burn worked, and Lovell radioed Mission Control with cheerful news: 'Please be informed, there is a Santa Claus.' The crew splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean on December 27, 1968. It had been a painful, troubled year in many places, and a stranger sent Borman a telegram reading, 'Thank you Apollo 8. You saved 1968.'

Christmas messages from space did not end in 1968, because crews have lived aboard the International Space Station continuously since November 2000. The station circles Earth about every 90 minutes, roughly 250 miles up, so its crew can see about sixteen sunrises and sunsets in a single day. At Christmas, crews often hang decorations, share special foods, and video-call their families, proof that a tradition can follow people even into orbit. Still, the image that lingers is Lovell's thumb: he later recalled that with one raised thumb, he could hide the whole Earth, and everyone he had ever known, from view.

Frank Borman had a tricky assignment: on Christmas Eve 1968, with the gray Moon sliding past his window, he had to say something worth hearing to a television audience of millions. He and his crewmates, Jim Lovell and William Anders, were the first people ever to orbit the Moon, circling about 70 miles above its surface. Borman later recalled that his only instruction was to say something appropriate. Picture a grainy black-and-white image flickering on living-room screens, with voices crackling across roughly 240,000 miles of space. What the crew chose turned a test flight into one of history's most remembered Christmas Eves, and people still ask why it worked so well.

One answer is timing, and the timing was nearly an accident. Apollo 8 began as a test in Earth orbit, but in August 1968 NASA turned it into a voyage to the Moon, only about four months before launch. The Saturn V rocket that carried the crew was so new that this was its first flight with people aboard. They left on December 21 and, after about three days, reached lunar orbit on Christmas Eve. Back on Earth, 1968 had been a painful year of conflict and sorrow, and many people were ready for a shared moment of wonder. Borman later said a stranger sent him a telegram reading, 'Thank you Apollo 8. You saved 1968.'

That telegram may have been thanking the crew most of all for a single evening broadcast. Anders, Lovell, and Borman each read from the opening verses of Genesis, the ancient account of creation, beginning, 'In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.' Borman closed with wishes for 'a Merry Christmas' and 'God bless all of you—all of you on the good Earth.' The choice fit the scene, because Genesis speaks of light and darkness, and Anders had just mentioned that the crew was approaching lunar sunrise. It also suited the day, since Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas, and Genesis is sacred to Jews and Christians alike.

Still, a broadcast heard by people of many beliefs raised a fair question: was a government mission the right place for scripture? After the flight, activist Madalyn Murray O'Hair filed a lawsuit arguing that government employees should not read religious text while on duty in space, and a court dismissed the case. Defenders answered that the crew had chosen the passage themselves and that its images of light and beginnings spoke to a wonder many people felt, whatever their beliefs. The debate left a mark: when Buzz Aldrin observed communion on the Moon in 1969, he kept it private, and NASA asked that it not be broadcast. Notice how the two sides differed: critics focused on who was speaking, while defenders focused on what the words meant to listeners.

Yet the most lasting image from that week says nothing at all. As the spacecraft came around the Moon on its fourth orbit, Anders spotted Earth rising over the gray horizon and cried, 'Look at that picture over there!' He snapped a black-and-white frame, then Lovell scrambled to find color film before the view changed. From the Moon, Earth looks about four times wider than the Moon appears to us, yet it seemed small and fragile against black space. Many writers link the photograph to the growing environmental movement and the first Earth Day in April 1970, though other influences also shaped that movement. Anders later reflected that the crew had come to explore the Moon, but the most important thing they found was Earth.

Discovering Earth is now a daily habit for crews aboard the International Space Station, and they still make room for Christmas. People have lived there continuously since November 2000, circling Earth about every 90 minutes and seeing about 16 sunrises and sunsets each day. Crews have celebrated with decorations, stockings, and special holiday foods, sometimes sent up on cargo ships. Because the astronauts come from many countries, holidays vary: Russian Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on January 7, so the station can enjoy more than one holiday season. Three men once traveled about 240,000 miles to reach the Moon, yet the moment people remember best is the one when they turned and looked home.