Back on Earth after looping around the moon on NASA’s first lunar mission in 53 years, Artemis II pilot Victor Glover talked to The Christian Chronicle.
Glover and his crewmates — Americans Reid Weisman and Christina Koch and Canadian Jeremy Hansen — traveled 252,756 miles, a new record for human spaceflight.
Listen to the full exclusive interview on Episode 156 of the Chronicle’s podcast, hosted by B.T. Irwin.
The Chronicle’s Irwin talked to Glover, a member of the Southeast Church of Christ in Friendswood, Texas, about faith, prayer and exploration, drawing from the unique perspective of his 10-day journey.
Here are three takeaways from the 50-year-old Christian’s reflections on the life-changing mission:
1. Grace shapes life on Earth and in deep space.
Inside the Orion capsule — roughly the size of a minivan — four astronauts lived and worked in a confined space, where success depended on character just as much as skill.
Over three years, the four members of the Artemis II crew worked with specialized NASA operational psychologists in preparation for life in orbit.
Their training extended beyond spaceflight, ranging from learning from British historians about the moon’s historical and religious significance to studying creative language with an English professor.
Midway through their lunar observation period, the Artemis II crew members – Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen – pause to turn the camera around for a selfie inside the Orion spacecraft.
“We worked as hard at all the facets of this, and we still probably forgot something, but we did it intentionally — that is the point,” Glover said. “We were willing and intentional, and we went and reached out to the people who could help us.”
The preparation shaped not only his readiness to manage tasks on the mission but also, in Glover’s case, personal faith practices, including reading the Bible and focusing on prayer.
One theme remained consistent among the crew throughout the years of preparation and eventual execution: grace.
“There was a heaping of grace in that capsule. We had to give and receive grace continually.”
“There was a heaping of grace in that capsule,” he said. “We had to give and receive grace continually.”
Although the crew named the capsule “Integrity,” Glover noted that it also could have been called “Grace,” mirroring the dependence required for living in close quarters.
2. Prayer in orbit was planned — and unplanned.
From hundreds of thousands of miles away, Earth appeared small from the window of the Orion capsule — “about the size of your thumb,” Glover said.
Prayer during the mission, he said, became both structured and spontaneous.
Before launch, it was intentional, part of a ritual that included preparation, speaking to his family and grounding himself. But once in orbit, prayer also emerged unexpectedly through the awe of exploring space.
NASA’s Orion spacecraft captures the moon and the Earth in one frame during the Artemis II crew’s deep space journey. The right side of NASA’s Orion spacecraft is seen lit up by the Sun.
“Your natural response is to call on God,” Glover said. “The number of times that I heard, ‘Oh, my God,’ and it was truly the only thing that made sense.”
At one point during the Artemis II mission, the crew lost communication with Earth for about 40 minutes as the moon blocked radio signals. In the blackout, with no anchor point for orientation or contact with mission control, Glover paused his geological observations of the lunar surface.
“Your natural response is to call on God. The number of times that I heard, ‘Oh, my God,’ and it was truly the only thing that made sense.”
For several moments, only the sounds of the capsule systems and the crew’s voices filled the cabin.
With his headset still on, Glover’s first response was to pray to God.
“It welled up inside of me,” he said of the prayer, “and that’s something I’m actually going to spend more time thinking about. It’s kind of the ritual versus the response, what was just truly authentic and organic — and was a response to what we were seeing and experiencing.”
3. Landing on Earth brought a new perspective for Glover.
The farther Glover and the Artemis II mission traveled from Earth, the more he began to consider what it means, as Christians, to bring faith into unexplored places — and what it means that God is always present.
“We need to appreciate God in that new place,” he said. “The weak link coming into that circumstance is us. It’s not that beautiful creation that we’re surrounded by.”
Having served aboard the International Space Station in 2020 and 2021, Glover already carried a perspective on Earth that few had experienced. But the moon mission further developed his view of how to share his experiences.
Artemis II astronauts pose for a post-mission group photo after viewing the Orion spacecraft in the well deck of USS John P. Murtha
As the spacecraft splashed down April 10 near San Diego, one defining moment came in the medical bay as crewmate Wiseman wept with a chaplain.
The scene reminded Glover that exploration reveals human dependence through the lens of achievement.
“I have a commitment to share this experience in a way that isn’t me telling you about this one once-in-a-lifetime experience I’ve had,” Glover said. “It’s to give it to you.”
“I have a commitment to share this experience in a way that isn’t me telling you about this one once-in-a-lifetime experience I’ve had. It’s to give it to you.”
From that view 252,756 miles away, Glover’s mission to the far side of the moon deepened his belief that exploration should draw people to God — and to each other.
“When I say you’re more like me than you think, or I am more like you, or we are more like one another — we’re all weak mortal beings that won’t be here forever, and we need help,” he told the Chronicle. “We need God’s help, and we need each other’s help.”
EPHRAIM RODENBACH, a sports journalism major at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tenn., is a Christian Chronicle intern.
