An Original Program from the White House Prayer Service for the Apollo 11 Astronauts on the Day of Their Moon Landing, Signed by President Richard M. Nixon, Chief Justice Warren Burger, Astronaut Frank Borman, and Others
Five hours after the service, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon, while Michael Collins orbited overhead
An extraordinary memento of the moon landing, and the first signed program from the Apollo 11 prayer service we have ever seen
On July 20, 1969, NASA’s Apollo 11 mission achieved the historic first human landing on the Moon, with astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin setting foot on the lunar surface,...
An extraordinary memento of the moon landing, and the first signed program from the Apollo 11 prayer service we have ever seen
On July 20, 1969, NASA’s Apollo 11 mission achieved the historic first human landing on the Moon, with astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin setting foot on the lunar surface, while Michael Collins orbited above in the command module, marking a monumental moment in space exploration witnessed by hundreds of millions of people worldwide. President Richard M. Nixon spoke from the White House by radiotelephone with Apollo 11 Armstrong and Aldrin as they walked on the surface of the moon. Nixon called the conversation “the most historic telephone call ever made.
President Nixon and some 346 leaders of the American Government and the diplomatic corps began this epochal day with a prayer service for the three astronauts the whole world was watching. Most of the Cabinet were there, a big Congressional contingent was on hand, including most of the leaders in both parties, and many members of the Space and Foreign Affairs committees in the Senate and House. Mrs. Nixon, David Eisenhower and his wife, Julie, and Tricia Nixon took part in the service.
They gathered in the East Room of the White House. The President opened the service with remarks, starting off with “A historic day the day when man will first set foot on the moon.” Astronaut Frank Borman, who was the President’s chief advisor and liaison to the space program, read the opening words of Genesis, as he and two comrades did while orbiting the moon the previous Christmas Eve. They were the first men ever to circumnavigate that body. Borman began his reading: “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.”
Paul S. Smith, the teacher that Mr. Nixon said had “most inspired me” and a “birthright Quaker” who was president of Whittier College in California, gave the sermon. “My own faith in mankind is renewed this morning in the knowledge that countless millions of all nations are praying today, not so much that one brave astronaut may set foot upon the moon, but that three brave astronauts may put their feet again upon the earth,” Dr. Smith said. Senator Mark O. Hatfield of Oregon, a devout Baptist, delivered one of the prayers. The benediction was given by John H. Buchanan Jr. of Alabama, an ordained Baptist minister. The Navy Hymn was also sung. Following the service, coffee was served in the State Dining Room.
This is a program from that event, the cover showing the date and image of the White House, and the interior signed by Nixon, Borman, Chief Justice Warren Burger, Hatfield, Buchanan, and Dr. Smith. This is an extraordinary memento of the moon landing, and the first signed program from the Apollo 11 prayer service we have ever seen.
Five hours later, Neil A. Armstrong and Col. Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. landed on the moon, while Lieut. Col. Michael Collins orbited overhead.
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