On Christmas Eve, December 24, 1968, the crew of Apollo 8 read from the Book of Genesis as they orbited the Moon. Astronauts Bill Anders, Jim Lovell, and Frank Borman were the first humans to travel to the Moon. To the people of Earth, they recited verses 1 through 10 of Genesis. Anders read verses 1–4, Lovell verses 5–8, and Borman read verses 9 and 10. Around the world, people listened and watched on their television to the astronauts of Apollo 8. One in four people on Earth, which was roughly a billion people listened to the reading. Within 24 hours, recorded broadcasts of the address from the moon reached people in another 30 countries.

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