
How the Apollo 8 crew delivered an out-of-this-world message of hope during a pivotal Christmas
Fox News
In 1968 on Christmas Eve, this special moment in space became an important part of our history.
With the Apollo program continually bogged down by technological problems, and the Soviet Union continuing to make advances in their own space program, America's years-long dream of putting a man on the moon was beginning to seem out of reach.But over the summer of 1968, NASA architects and astronauts would make a bold decision that the next mission, Apollo 8, would send astronauts to orbit the moon.
After months of preparation, that decision led to the first-ever successful visit to the moon and subsequent return to Earth - and the first live television broadcast from lunar orbit.
On December 24th, 1968, astronauts Bill Anders, Jim Lovell, and Frank Borman, embarked on the mission as the first humans to travel to the moon. And they decided to wish the world a Merry Christmas in the most spectacular way: