18. The Christmas telecast from Apollo 8
In December of 1968, one of the most divisive and troubled years of American history, American astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders became the first human beings in history to leave earth’s orbit and travel to the moon. The mission was changed from its original profile, which was to test the Lunar Excursion Module while in low earth orbit, in part because the LEM wasn’t ready and in part, because the Soviets sent a mission to lunar orbit and returned, which carried live tortoises, on a spacecraft called Zond 5. US intelligence did not believe that the Soviets possessed the ability to land on the moon, but the flight which carried living specimens prodded NASA administrators to send American astronauts to orbit the moon as a morale builder and public relations boost.
The night before the first lunar mission was launched the astronauts were visited by Charles Lindbergh, a graphic example of how far human flight had advanced in the course of a single lifetime. The mission was far from flawless, but problems encountered were resolved sufficiently for Apollo 8 to achieve lunar orbit. On the evening of December 24, Christmas Eve, with dramatic pictures of the earth being telecast from lunar orbit, the astronauts read passages from Genesis before wishing their audience on earth a Merry Christmas. The mission to orbit the moon was a triumph for NASA, with public approbation of the space program largely restored, and the drive to walk on the moon by the end of the decade was restored.