It was forty years ago today. I was all of 16 years old and like most of the country was riveted by our progress in manned spaceflight and the Apollo mission to land a man on the moon's surface. Then on Christmas eve, 1968, about eight months before Neil Armstrong's historic first step, the crew of Apollo 8 achieved lunar orbit and sent back the now famous and soul stirring picture of Earthrise over the bright moonscape.

In an era of political upheaval, cultural division, racial strife, assassinations and fear of nuclear Armageddon, there was our beautiful blue planet suspended now for all to see in the vast and empty blackness of outer space. It was a collectively humbling but also uplifting moment.

How petty it made seem even our bitterest squabbles. How grand it made seem the promise of our capacity for achievment. The nascent environmental movement now had an indelible image, a touchstone. Cold was the heart not affected by the stirring reading from Genesis, broadcast that night by that crew of intrepid spacefarers, Borman, Lovell, and Anders, and directed to all the peoples of Earth.

Image: EARTHRISE

Hear and see for yourself, what I witnessed along with millions of other Earthlings... forty years ago today:

The Apollo 8 Christmas Eve Broadcast

To further put the event in context, I commend to your attention a wonderful op-ed piece by Oliver Morton in today's New York Times: Not-So-Lonely Planet

PEACE... and happy holidays to all! Avra