From the onboard voice recorder transcript in the Apollo 8 Flight Journal, behind the scenes of a historic moment 40 years ago tonight:
086:06:26 Borman (onboard): Hey, why don't we start reading that thing, and that would be a good place to end it.
086:06:34 Lovell (onboard): No, we've got to go into it very nicely. Why don't we - as we go into sunset...
086:06:36 Anders (onboard): Right.
086:06:37 Lovell (onboard): ...or is it sunrise? This is sunrise, yes. We're approaching lunar sunrise.
086:06:40 Anders: We are now approaching lunar sunrise, and for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you.
086:06:56 Anders: In the beginning, God created the Heaven and the Earth. And the Earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, and God said, "Let there be light." And there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness. [Pause.]
086:07:24 Lovell (onboard): You got it, Frank.
086:07:25 Borman (onboard): No, it's your...
086:07:29 Lovell: And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters. And let it divide the waters from the waters." And God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. [Pause.]
086:07:59 Borman (onboard): Can you hold this camera?
086:08:00 Anders (onboard): You want to pass it over here, Jim?
086:08:02 Borman (onboard): No, it's perfect right where it is.
086:08:03 Anders (onboard): Okay.
086:08:07 Borman: And God said, "Let the waters under the Heavens be gathered together into one place. And let the dry land appear." And it was so. And God called the dry land Earth. And the gathering together of the waters called He seas. And God saw that it was good. And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas and God bless all of you - all of you on the good Earth.
[Comm break.]
086:08:39 Lovell (onboard): That's it.
086:08:40 Borman (onboard): Don't say anymore now.
086:08:41 Anders (onboard): I just turned it Off. You want it On again?
086:08:42 Borman (onboard): No. leave it Off. Great! Great!
086:08:43 Anders (onboard): Off?
086:08:44 Borman (onboard): Yes.
086:08:45 Anders (onboard): Okay.
086:08:46 Lovell (onboard): Camera's Off?
086:08:47 Anders (onboard): Yes.
086:08:49 Borman (onboard): Hey, how can you beat that? Geeze, we just went into the terminator right in time.
086:08:54 Lovell (onboard): Okay, let's get the spacecraft back in even keel again. Here, here's this, Frank.
086:09:06 Borman (onboard): All right, let's get the Flight Plan out here.
086:09:09 Borman (onboard): We've got to get it.
086:09:11 Lovell (onboard): Okay.
086:09:21 Anders (onboard): Whew! Pretty impressive out there.
086:09:22 Borman (onboard): Boy, it sure is.
086:09:37 Borman (onboard): Okay, men.
086:09:39 Lovell (onboard): It's 86 hours.
Public Affairs Officer - "This is Apollo Control, Houston. The speakers in the order that they read from what we believe to be chapters from Genesis were Bill Anders and Jim Lovell, and close out with Frank Borman. That's both biblical and a geological lesson that none of us will forget. At 86 hours and 9 minutes into the flight, this is Apollo Control, Houston."
086:09:46 Borman: Houston, how do you read? Apollo 8.
086:09:48 Mattingly: Loud and clear, Apollo 8. And thank you for a very good show. We have a maneuver PAD for you when you're ready to copy.
086:09:53 Borman (onboard): Don't tell me they didn't hear us.
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