BORMAN,
FRANK

(b.March 14, 1928), was the Commander of the Apollo VIII spacecraft, which was the first manned ship to orbit the moon. He served as a U.S. Air Force Officer; NASA director for space stations, 1969–70; vice-president of Eastern Airlines, 1970–75, president 1975–86.

He shared this message on December 24, 1968, by remote television up-link as he looked at the earth from 240,000 miles away:

For all the people of earth, we have a message we would like to send 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 that it was good.3851

In December of 1968, from aboard the Apollo VIII, Astronaut Frank Borman gave the prayer:

Give us, O God, the vision which can see love in the world in spite of human failure. Give us the faith to trust Thy goodness in spite of our ignorance and weakness. Give us the knowledge that we may continue to pray with understanding hearts, and show us what each one of us can do to set forward the coming of the day of universal peace.3852