'There Is a Santa Claus'
As Apollo 8 came out from behind the Moon on Christmas Day, Jim Lovell radioed Earth: 'Please be informed there is a Santa Claus.'
What was reported
Apollo 8 was the first crewed spacecraft to orbit the Moon. On Christmas Day 1968, the crew fired their engine on the far side, out of contact with Earth, to leave lunar orbit and head home. If it had failed, they would have been stranded.
When the spacecraft came back into radio contact, the astronaut Jim Lovell's first words were: 'Please be informed, there is a Santa Claus.' Years later, UFO writers claimed that 'Santa Claus' was a code word NASA astronauts used to report alien craft.
Explanations offered
Lovell was making a Christmas joke, and a relieved one: the engine had worked and they were coming home. There's no evidence of a secret code, and the full transcripts of the mission show the phrase in its ordinary context. Lovell spoke about the moment many times over his life.
- When
- 25 December 1968
- Where
- In orbit around the Moon, aboard Apollo 8
- Witnesses
- The crew of Apollo 8 and Mission Control
- Status
- A joke
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.