Ross Amico, U.S. 1
Nov 30, 2022
'Cool' Christmas Concert Gets Planetarium Lift Off
With the inauguration of the James Webb Space Telescope and the launch of Artemis I, NASA is back on top of the news cycle. Images of the Earth from space recall the wonder experienced by the astronauts of Apollo 8, 54 years ago. The Christmas Eve mission was the first to send humans to orbit the moon and return safely to Earth.
The iconic "Earthrise" image taken by astronaut Bill Anders on Apollo 8 on Christmas Eve 1968. Friday marked the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 8 liftoff.
“Earthrise,” a photograph taken from the capsule by William Anders during lunar orbit, is one of the most iconic ever taken.
“The Consolation of Apollo,” Kile Smith’s 35-minute choral work, features the actual words of the Apollo 8 astronauts framed by selections from “The Consolation of Philosophy,” writings by the 6th-century philosopher Boethius. The juxtaposition of Apollo, mythical charioteer of the sun, with Apollo 8, the manmade spacecraft bearing his name — each traversing the skies of their respective eras — can’t help but inspire a kind of awed reflection on what humanity is capable of achieving.
“I do have a personal interest in astronomy,” she admits. “If I were a scientist, I would be an astronomer, and I had the desire to be an astronaut when I was five.”
Brozovich, who hails from Conway Springs, Kansas, notes, “The Kansas state motto is ‘To the stars through difficulties,’ so I’ve just always had a little affinity for the miracle of the skies.”