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The American manned space program began with great promise, peaked 40 years ago with the Apollo Moon landings, and fizzled when Congress, with Democrats in the majority in both the House and Senate, slashed NASA’s budget.

Still, before the effort was reined in, it was spectacular to behold. The Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs were thrilling and important.

Between November 1968 and December 1972, Apollo astronauts blasted into space 11 times. Six times, they went to the Moon and landed on the surface.

What most people remember best is the Apollo 11 mission in July 1969, when Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the lunar surface. Fair enough.

But I’m a bit of a contrarian. The flight that impressed me most was Apollo 8, in December 1968.

The Apollo 8 mission was humanity’s first expedition truly into space and away from the planet. The journey to the Moon took three days. The astronauts parked in orbit, made 10 revolutions, and returned home safely.

The Apollo 8 crewmen were the first to see with their own eyes the far side of the Moon. Astronaut Bill Anders took the famous Earthrise photo, looking back at the rest of us.

46 years ago tonight, on Christmas Eve 1968, the crew of Apollo 8 appeared on television in a live broadcast from lunar orbit. They had been told by NASA to “do something appropriate” for the occasion.

They chose to read aloud from the creation story in the Book of Genesis.

I watched the Apollo 8 broadcast on TV that night, along with a billion-odd other Earthlings. The moment was not only exhilarating and inspiring, but wholly positive in nature.

Back then, the country badly needed something positive. The 1960s had been brutal and demoralizing — the Vietnam War, the assassinations of John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and MLK.

The times gave rise to the civil rights movement, the hippies, the drug culture, and the sexual revolution. Upheaval was constant. We seemed to be going off the rails.

And more anguish would follow. Six months after Apollo 8, we would learn about the My Lai Massacre. Watergate and the Nixon resignation were just ahead.

So, the Apollo broadcast on Christmas Eve was a welcome balm, a needed timeout, and a moment to treasure. It seemed like evidence that we still had good within us as a society.

The video of the Apollo broadcast is widely available online, and I’ve watched it often over the years. It gets me emotional every time.

Here is the transcript…

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Air Force Major Bill 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.

“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.”

Navy Captain Jim 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.”

Air Force Colonel Frank 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.

Merry Christmas.