--- title: Apollo 8: First Broadcast From the Moon | TIME description: The Apollo 8 mission was a bright spot at the end of an otherwise bleak 1968. America watched in awe as astronauts broadcast live pictures from the moon canonical: https://time.com/video/RiD6Udbd/ og:title: Apollo 8: First Broadcast From the Moon og:description: The Apollo 8 mission was a bright spot at the end of an otherwise bleak 1968. America watched in awe as astronauts broadcast live pictures from the moon og:url: https://time.com/video/RiD6Udbd/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/RiD6Udbd/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Apollo 8: First Broadcast From the Moon twitter:description: The Apollo 8 mission was a bright spot at the end of an otherwise bleak 1968. America watched in awe as astronauts broadcast live pictures from the moon twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/RiD6Udbd/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Apollo 8: First Broadcast From the Moon > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Subscription: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923, reporting on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world. A TIME subscription provides full access to that journalism in print and digital, from $20 a year, and can be cancelled at any time. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Apollo 8: First Broadcast From the Moon [Watch (HLS stream): Apollo 8: First Broadcast From the Moon](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/RiD6Udbd.m3u8) (4:41)  _Published 2008-12-24. The Apollo 8 mission was a bright spot at the end of an otherwise bleak 1968. America watched in awe as astronauts broadcast live pictures from the moon_ --- Jul 27, 2023 1:04 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Unseen Apollo: Going To The Moon Through Astronaut's Eyes](/video/c43u4clG/) ### Unseen Apollo: Going To The Moon Through Astronaut's Eyes [buzz-aldrin-easep-apollo-11-moon-landing](/video/tPdr9fKz/) ### buzz-aldrin-easep-apollo-11-moon-landing [How Apollo 11 Got to the Moon](/video/PkL4DeYm/) ### How Apollo 11 Got to the Moon --- ## Transcript >> 40 years ago, we were ending perhaps the most turbulent year in the 20th century. The Democratic Convention had exploded into violence, 1200 Americans were dying a month in Vietnam. >> But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the Promised Land. >> We had just lost Martin Luther King, we had just lost Bobby Kennedy. >> Some men see things as they are and say " Why ?" I dream of things that never were and say " Why not ?" >> And suddenly the year ended with this transcendent moment. >> Three, two, one, zero. We have lift off. >> No human eyes had ever seen the far side of the moon. -[ unk ]. >> Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William Anders were the three men aboard Apollo 8. These three men were the first humans to do it. >> We don't understand the significance of the mission until we got back home again then we understood the timing of it, the coincidence that we got around the moon at a particular time, the pictures that were taken. All got together and do-- I think a very formidable and very positive influence at the end of 1968 for the people of the United States. >> Time was the first magazine that came out in a very broad way with the news that human beings were gonna try to fly to the moon and of course in January, Borman, Lovell and Anders were named as Time's Men of the Year. >> The most iconic picture in the history of space travel was Earthrise as seen from the far side of moon by the Apollo 8 astronauts. We could see for the first time how fragile, how destructible earth is and we could see it from a quarter million miles away. >> The famous photo was taken by Bill Anders. >> You know, I wouldn't let them touch the camera. Looking back and seeing the earth for the first time and frankly, I lost all interest in the moon after that. >> And then we're focused back on the earth because it was the only place in the Universe there was any color. We were away from home a long time, 240, 000 miles, Christmas Eve, out focused on the earth. >> For all the people back on earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you. >> Christmas Eve, 1968, Apollo 8 had one of its-- one of its live broadcasts back to earth. >> We were told about six weeks before the flight that we would be having a TV broadcast with the largest audience in history and the only instructions that we got from NASA was to do something appropriate. That struck a real chord with me because it showed that they had confidence in us. >> They have pointed the camera out the window and they showed earthlings, two things, our earth from a quarter of million miles away and the surface of the moon rolling by underneath. >> We had never seen the likes of images like that, certainly not coming back live. >> 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. >> They read aloud from Genesis, all three astronauts taking turns on Christmas Eve. >> I must say as I started it, it came to me really for the first time that this was a momentous thing. >> And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morning was the first day. >> Sending three emissaries of the species, this kind of distance and then having them talk live to the rest of us the species that sent them there and convey something so transcendent as a verse about the creation of the species whether you-- you're religious or not, it transcended all of that and just brought people together in what was otherwise a very violent year. >> 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, >> Good night, good luck, Merry Christmas and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth. This was the best crew that flew on Apollo. God bless you all. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Apollo 8: First Broadcast From the Moon","description":"The Apollo 8 mission was a bright spot at the end of an otherwise bleak 1968. 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