Jingqi Kay Liu

Apollo and the Genesis of World-Image

The horizon has been the extent of human vision of the world; that was until the age of space. On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite Sputnik 1, signaling the dawn of an era characterized by technological advancements, spurred by the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union.

The Apollo program was one of the most significant projects carried out by NASA, with its primary goal of landing humans on the Moon. The Apollo missions not only laid the technological groundwork for later satellite technology, the many experiments taking place onboard also led to other initiatives. From Earthrise to The Blue Marble, we began to perceive Earth as a unified entity, unrestricted by the horizon, illuminated with visible lights, and absent of borders. Since then, space imaging has profoundly shifted the paradigm of cartography. The demarcation of territory is intertwined with another dimension, and the lines become indistinct.

[EARTHRISE]

Earthrise was taken on December 24, 1968, by Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders. Along with The Blue Marble, taken by the crew of Apollo 17 four years later, Earthrise was the icon of environmental movements of the 1970s. The photograph was included in 100 Photographs that Changed the World by Life magazine in 2003.

It is possible to see that Earthrise marked the tipping point, the moment when the sense of the space age flipped from what it meant for space to what it means for Earth. – Robert Poole, 2008

[READING OF GENESIS]

On the same day Earthrise was captured on Christmas Eve of 1968, the crew of Apollo 8 read from the Book of Genesis as they orbited the moon. The reading was broadcasted globally and reached people in more than 30 countries.

[T]hey took turns reading…, ceremonially dedicating humanity’s foray off its home planet to the principles of medieval creationism.
– Benjamin H. Bratton, 2019

[Bill Anders]
We are now approaching lunar sunrise, and for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to 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 the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. (1:1-4)

[Jim Lovell]
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. (1:5-8)

[Frank Borman]
And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. (1:9-10)

And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas – and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth.

– Genesis 1:1-10, King James Version