Christian Astronaut Pilots First Moon Mission In 53 Years
Two friends and brothers in Christ — Brent Hankins and Tracy Lamm — flew to Florida this week to witness the launch of humanity’s first lunar voyage in 53 years.
Both had special reasons for doing so.
Hankins serves as an elder of the Southeast Church of Christ in Friendswood, Texas, the congregation about six miles from NASA’s Space Center Houston that Artemis II pilot Victor Glover and his wife, Dionna, call home.
“He’s just a top-shelf guy and down to earth, but with all the experiences and accolades,” Hankins said of Glover, who launched into space with three other astronauts at 6:35 p.m. EDT Wednesday from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral.
As a shepherd, Hankins said he came to love and support the Glover family and cheer and pray for them.
“It was a rush,” the Texas elder said of witnessing the launch. “I mean, I think we all had tears in our eyes. When we got to about five seconds in the countdown, the magnitude of that was pretty overwhelming.”
Lamm, a member of the Twickenham Church of Christ in Huntsville, Ala., spent 38 years working for NASA and private companies in the space industry. He attended the Southeast church during a four-year stint as a chief operating officer at Space Center Houston in the 2010s.
“It’s pretty moving,” said Lamm, who — with Hankins — watched the beginning of the planned 10-day test flight around the moon from a seventh-floor hotel rooftop.
His voice choked with emotion as he spoke.
“We’ve been trying to find this new launch vehicle and a spacecraft to get us to the moon,” Lamm said. “I spent a lot of years trying to help do that. … It just meant a whole lot to be able to be there and see that.”
No atheists on rockets
Glover, a 49-year-old U.S. Navy captain, will be the first Black astronaut to journey around the moon.
Lamm recalled hearing Glover speak at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville.
The former combat pilot paid tribute to the Tuskegee Airmen and other pioneering Black military pilots who came before him.
“I got to hear him say, ‘I’m standing on the shoulders of greatness,’” Lamm said.
“But it goes back to … the connection to God, the connection to people,” the Alabama church member added. “And then being able to share that in a way that brings people to understand that we’re humans, but we were filled with a spirit to serve and to honor and to glorify God in anything that we may do.”
Before Glover’s 168-day International Space Station mission from November 2020 to May 2021, he talked to The Christian Chronicle about sending up communion cups and a Bible for his time in space.
“I want to use the abilities that God has given me to do my job well and support my crewmates and mission and NASA,” he told the Chronicle in that interview. “That’s really the thing I think the most about.”
After his return home, Glover discussed his faith on the Chronicle’s podcast and reflected on the lessons he learned partaking of the Lord’s Supper 250 miles above Earth.
“In the military, there’s a saying that there are no atheists in foxholes,” he said on the podcast. “There aren’t any on top of rockets, either, I would think.”
Excited and nervous
Now, Glover is rocketing nearly 250,000 miles to the moon.
Dionna and the couple’s four daughters — Genesis, Maya, Joai and Corinne — invited Hankins and Lamm to attend a reception after Wednesday’s launch. The daughters are all in their late teens or early 20s.
Dionna grew up in the Pinole Church of Christ, about 20 miles east of San Francisco.
Before her husband’s International Space Station trip in 2020, she talked about the mix of emotions she felt as an astronaut’s wife.
“Of course I’m excited, but it’s also a little scary,” she told the Chronicle then. “I’m nervous. I’m excited for him. I have Scriptures that I’m reading regularly to try to remind myself not to worry and not to stress.”
No doubt she’s experiencing similar feelings now.
At the reception, Hankins said he hugged Dionna and told her, “God is so good. I celebrate with you. My heart is exploding with you.”
He recalled telling Corinne, the youngest daughter, “I just love that y’all are Jesus-loving people.”
At the end of the Chronicle’s 45-minute interview with Hankins and Lamm, Hankins asked if he could pray.
“Father, I want to lift up my brother, Victor, and his team that are on this mission,” Hankins said as he raised his voice toward heaven.
“Let your name be glorified in it all.”
This article was originally published by The Christian Chronicle.
Bobby Ross Jr. writes the Weekend Plug-in column for Religion Unplugged and serves as editor-in-chief of The Christian Chronicle. A former religion writer for The Associated Press and The Oklahoman, Ross has reported from all 50 states and 20 nations. He has covered religion since 1999.