The astronauts of Apollo 8 may hold the record for celebrating the most remote Christmas ever as their capsule orbited the moon on December 24, 1968.

No turkey and stuffing for Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William Anders – their Christmas dinner would come out of a tube (astronauts of the Space Shuttle generation would enjoy thermostabilised turkey during their festive season space travels, which sounds more gross than it probably is) while they watched earth rise up over the moon’s horizon.

Rocketing along in their little capsule, utterly dependent on technology to keep them alive, the sense of isolation must have been crushing. The moment clearly moved them deeply and they each read a couple of lines from the Book of Genesis during a live broadcast from space. An estimated 1 billion people tuned in to listen, and they would have heard mission commander Frank Borman end with the words “Good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas , and God bless all of you — all of you on the good Earth.”

The good earth, indeed. It will behoove us to remember that we have just one good earth, and we had best look after it a little better.

PHOTO: Floating along in a lunar orbit in 1968, the Apollo 8 crew transmitted the first view of earthrise that humans had ever seen. PICTURE: Courtesy of NASA

Related posts:

1. “Houston, we’ve had a problem here!” Remembering Apollo 13
2. Yuri Gagarin. First human in Space
3. Down to Earth: Last days of the Space Shuttle
4. And she’s gone: Space Shuttle Endeavour blasts off on final mission
5. Chasing the rocket’s red glare