The Apollo 8 Astronauts, from left to right,were mission Commander
            Frank Borman, Lunar Module Pilot William Andres, and Command
            Module Pilot James Lovell. After coming out from the back side of
            the Moon,the crew read ten verses of the book of Genesis from the
            Bible. This was during a Christmas Eve TV broadcast, a portion
            of this broadcast is below.

                    

        The crew members of Apollo 8 were the first Americans to directly
        see the far side of the Moon and the first humans to see the planet
        Earth from beyond it’s low orbit.

The popular Christmas carol was composed by Franz
Xaver  Gruber, an Austrian primary school teacher and
church organist. The lyrics were written by Rev. Joseph
Mohr, pictured below.