Astronaut Jim Lovell dies at 97

An American astronaut whose reading of Genesis 1 from space was broadcast to earth on Christmas Eve in 1968, has died at the age of 97.

Jim Lovell was one of the first three astronauts to orbit the moon in 1968 on the Apollo 8, along with Frank Borman and William Anders.

On 24 December 1968, they reached lunar orbit and, in a widely broadcast reading, Lovell and his fellow astronauts each read a portion of Genesis 1.