A quiet night of surfing the web

Does anyone but me ever wonder what happened to honest to goodness space exploration? Back when we had the promise of brave new worlds, and we were boldly trying to go where no one had gone before... I miss Gene Roddenberry, but we will always have his blueprint for a fine future. I took the following from the NASA site, it is always a nice place to stop by and just surf.


Thirty-five years ago this Christmas, a turbulent world looked to the heavens for a unique view of our home planet. This photo of "Earthrise" over the lunar horizon was taken by the Apollo 8 crew in December 1968, showing Earth for the first time as it appears from deep space.

Astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William Anders had become the first humans to leave Earth orbit, entering lunar orbit on Christmas Eve. In a historic live broadcast that night, the crew took turns reading from the Book of Genesis, closing with a holiday wish from Commander Borman: "We close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you -- all of you on the good Earth."

For more on Apollo 8, visit:

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo8_xmas.html