Apollo 8

 The Apollo 8 mission, December 21–27, 1968, was the first crewed spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit and the first human spaceflight to reach the Moon. Without landing, the crew circled the moon ten times on Christmas Eve. On the ninth orbit, each crew member read  portions of the creation story from the book of Genesis. 

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.

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. 

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 the Seas: and God saw that it was good.

Commander Frank Borman concluded, "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." The crew began their return to Earth on Christmas Day. 

1968 had included the assassinations of Dr. King and Robert Kennedy, the escalation of the Vietnam War, unrest in American and world cities, police violence outside the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, and the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. To see the first view of Earth from space was such a compelling end to the year, to say the least.