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Earthrise: Apollo 8 Issue
The Apollo 8 mission tested all of NASA's preparations for traveling to the Moon and back. As Apollo 8 circled the Moon on Christmas Eve 1968, the astronauts on board read the first ten lines of the Book of Genesis to a massive worldwide television audience. The words of these men who were flying hundreds of thousands of miles from home had a tremendous emotional impact on worldwide audiences.
Postmaster General W. Marvin Watson, inspired by Apollo 8's success, supported the idea of producing a stamp commemorating the voyage. The Post Office Department selected NASA's color photograph 68-HC-870 for the 6-cent stamp design. This picture, which was taken on the mission while the men were approximately 240,000 miles from Earth, shows the moon's surface with the Earth in the distance. The stamp featured the words "In the beginning God...", the first words of Genesis that had been read by the astronauts. |