On behave of Dave Cottle and his family and my family, we wish you and yours a merry Christmas and a safe and enjoyable New Year's, and all the best for 2006

HST
1 20580U 90037B 05357 57295794 00000446 00000-0 22039-4 0 4980 2 20580 28 4665 114 5948 0003957 125 8203 234 2753 14 99925405658705 ISS
1 25544U 98067A 05358 49065691 00014955 00000-0 10973-3 0 102 2 25544 51 6451 5 5393 0010877 75 5457 82 4477 15 73328870405639 CHANDRA
1 25867U 99040B 05358 20833333 00000000 00000-0 00000+0 0 8703 2 25867 58 5599 100 0604 5676787 294 8727 355 1252 0 37797924 1212 FLOATING POTENTIAL PROBE 1 28896U 00078B 05358 19531245 00116278 00000-0 49468-3 0 797 2 28896 51 6439 4 5995 0003265 24 1994 335 9165 15 84402216 7349

These 2-Line Elements (TLEs) are from US Space Command courtesy TS Kelso's Celestial BBS Updates will normally be provided three times a week, or daily during Space Shuttle missions

   David Bate for David Cottle

Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the Moon, entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1968 That evening, the astronauts; Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders did a live television broadcast from lunar orbit, in which they showed pictures of the Earth and Moon seen from Apollo 8 Lovell said, "The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth " They ended the broadcast with the crew taking turns reading from the book of Genesis

William Anders:

"For all the people on Earth the crew of Apollo 8 has a message we would like to send 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 " /

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 " /

Frank Borman:

/ "And God said, Let the waters under the heavens 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 " /

Borman then added, "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 "