Latest / Crosswalk Talk: Celebrity Christian Interviews / Barry "Butch" Wilmore on 286 Days in Space and the Starliner Mission

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Barry "Butch" Wilmore on 286 Days in Space and the Starliner Mission · Crosswalk Talk: Celebrity Christian Interviews

0:02
Speaker 1: Life Audio.
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Speaker 2: Hey Butch, thanks for joining me.
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Speaker 1: Zip perk, great pay. Very Barry Butch Wilmore retired NASA
0:10
Speaker 1: astronaut in US Navy test fil it. Here's a new book.
0:13
Speaker 1: It's called The Stuck, Stuck in Space and Astronauts Hope
0:16
Speaker 1: through the Unexpected. It recounts your career with a focus
0:19
Speaker 1: on a mission that gained worldwide attention. Butch, you travel
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Speaker 1: to the space three times by my memory, once aboard
0:27
Speaker 1: the Space Shuttle, once a board a so used Russian rocket,
0:31
Speaker 1: and another time, of course, aboard the one we're talking
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Speaker 1: about today, which is a blowing Starliner test mission. I
0:37
Speaker 1: don't want to assume everybody knows this story. I was
0:39
Speaker 1: following it as it was going.
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Speaker 2: On a few years ago.
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Speaker 1: But you were aboard this star Liner test mission that
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Speaker 1: was supposed to last eight days I believe about a week,
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Speaker 1: and it ended up lasting two and eighty six days.
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Speaker 1: You were going to be Iss International Space Station lasted
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Speaker 1: a lot longer, And of course then the story became
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Speaker 1: how are we getting you and everybody else back? So
1:03
Speaker 1: for those who don't know remember it, what happened and
1:07
Speaker 1: how did you get back?
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Speaker 3: The very short person, Michael, is we lost five of
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Speaker 3: our eight half firing thrusters over the course of the
1:16
Speaker 3: rendezvous and docking process, lost the ability to fully control
1:21
Speaker 3: the spacecraft's lost six degree of freedom control and we're
1:25
Speaker 3: able to regain it back, get a few thrusters back,
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Speaker 3: eventually docked, and then of course are we coming back
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Speaker 3: on Starliner?
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Speaker 2: Are we not coming back on Starliner?
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Speaker 3: That discussion was through the summer of twenty twenty four
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Speaker 3: for about three months. The decision was made not to
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Speaker 3: come back, and so then how do we get us back?
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Speaker 3: And that process took It would have been almost June,
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Speaker 3: I believe would have been a full year, based on
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Speaker 3: how different spacecraft coming go, cargo spacecraft and all to
1:51
Speaker 3: the International Space Station, but it wound up being nine
1:53
Speaker 3: and a half months. That's when we finally got back
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Speaker 3: in March of just over a year ago.
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Speaker 1: Right now, I'm assuming you had all sorts of emotions
2:01
Speaker 1: while this was going on. What point I mean, I'm
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Speaker 1: assuming it's like any other thing on Earth in which
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Speaker 1: you know, something happens, you think, okay, we'll get back
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Speaker 1: next week, we'll get back the falling week, we'll get
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Speaker 1: back the next month, and pretty soon you realize we're
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Speaker 1: up here for a long time.
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Speaker 2: I mean, did you at all.
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Speaker 1: Wonder if you were ever going to get back?
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Speaker 3: No, I tell you, because I've been with NASA for
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Speaker 3: a quarter century. At that point, I knew the failures
2:28
Speaker 3: that we had were not trivial. I knew that our
2:32
Speaker 3: ability to understand fully this problem enough to get back
2:38
Speaker 3: in the spacecraft and come home. So real quick, What
2:41
Speaker 3: was in my mind before we docked with the failures
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Speaker 3: we had. I'm manually, I'm on the controls myself. I'm
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Speaker 3: controlling the spacecraft. It is not the same as it
2:50
Speaker 3: had been the day prior.
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Speaker 2: It was.
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Speaker 3: It was challenging to control and understanding the failures that
2:55
Speaker 3: we had. There's three things really that went through my mind.
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Speaker 3: The first thing was we we have to dock to
3:00
Speaker 3: space station. Space Station is our safe haven. We get there,
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Speaker 3: we'll be safe for a period of time. If we
3:07
Speaker 3: don't dock to space station, I'm not sure what our
3:10
Speaker 3: options are. I'm not sure that I can control the
3:13
Speaker 3: spacecraft enough to get us back to Earth at this
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Speaker 3: point because at the time, not knowing why we had
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Speaker 3: the failures, not understanding any of that. So these are
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Speaker 3: the first two thoughts that came from up through my mind.
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Speaker 3: The third thought was if we are able to dock successfully,
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Speaker 3: I don't see as coming back on this spacecraft. So
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Speaker 3: it wasn't like something I realized as time went on.
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Speaker 3: It's something I knew from the beginning that the chance
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Speaker 3: was very slim of us getting back, and even before
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Speaker 3: we docked, so getting back on that spacecraft. So I
3:45
Speaker 3: didn't say anything of my wife and my girl, my
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Speaker 3: daughter's like I said, that was a three month process
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Speaker 3: of evaluating.
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Speaker 2: This was June, early June.
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Speaker 3: It was the end of August before the decision was
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Speaker 3: made we weren't coming back. But I told my wife, Mike,
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Speaker 3: and our two daughters about a month later, in the
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Speaker 3: first week as July, that I didn't think we'd make
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Speaker 3: it back until at the time twenty twenty five, which
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Speaker 3: was six months away. That was the most likely scenario
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Speaker 3: that I felt like because of just how all things
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Speaker 3: how again, understanding this process, that bounding it all, understanding
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Speaker 3: why it happened, what happened, and why it happened was
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Speaker 3: going to be difficult to determine.
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Speaker 2: Every nas to it early.
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Speaker 1: Every NASSA astronaut knows they could perish on any mission,
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Speaker 1: because launching is so difficult. Were there moments that you
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Speaker 1: thought something might happen on this mission that could be dangerous?
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Speaker 1: I mean were you were you confident in the crew
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Speaker 1: down you know in Houston and Florida, that everything was
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Speaker 1: going to be finer. Did you ever get a little
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Speaker 1: concerned that you know something might happen.
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Speaker 3: Well, I'll tell you, Michael, I don't offer up information
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Speaker 3: unless someone asked the question. And you just asked a
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Speaker 3: question I have not been asked. So I'll share this
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Speaker 3: with you. You'll be the first to hear it, you
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Speaker 3: and your listeners. Before we launched, I was with a
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Speaker 3: group of Boeing executives, Boeing chief engineers above the star
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Speaker 3: Liner program. I mean, these are people way up the
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Speaker 3: chain Boeing, and they asked me what is your biggest
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Speaker 3: concern because said we'd had many we'd found many things
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Speaker 3: with the software hardware combination and tests that were basically
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Speaker 3: lethal failure modes of the spacecraft. We've found a lot
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Speaker 3: of things, and so they asked me what my most
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Speaker 3: my biggest concern was and I said, well, it's the
5:22
Speaker 3: thrusters and the valves.
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Speaker 2: And the reason I.
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Speaker 3: Said that was because we had lost some thrusters on
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Speaker 3: the previous two uncrewed test flights, and you don't get
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Speaker 3: that hardware back. These were failures on the service module.
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Speaker 3: The service module detaches from the crew module and burns
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Speaker 3: up in the atmosphere, so you don't get the hardware back.
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Speaker 3: You can't inspect it, so you're you're just looking at
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Speaker 3: data and using engineering judgment to say, what why did
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Speaker 3: these why did these thrusters fail? And not knowing a
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Speaker 3: definitive answer though they had good rationale. I told them
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Speaker 3: then that was the that was my biggest concern, and obviously,
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Speaker 3: as it turns out, that's exactly where the problem was
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Speaker 3: when we were on orbit. So what did this mission
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Speaker 3: teach you about trusting in God?
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Speaker 1: Because I don't I don't know of anybody who goes
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Speaker 1: on an eight day vacation and all of a sudden
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Speaker 1: get stuck somewhere for you know whatever, many months, ere
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Speaker 1: nine months? I mean, what was the Lord teaching you
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Speaker 1: during this time?
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Speaker 3: Well, he was solidifying things that he'd already taught me.
6:19
Speaker 3: I mean, I'd professionally grown up in the Navy. I'd
6:23
Speaker 3: flown aircraft and multiple aircraft off of aircraft carriers, I've
6:27
Speaker 3: told you into combat. He'd been, you know, laying the
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Speaker 3: foundation of life and trials and difficulties and stressful situations
6:34
Speaker 3: for many decades. And so in this situation, I had
6:38
Speaker 3: learned God's word is true. God's word is absolutely true.
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Speaker 2: I believe it.
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Speaker 3: I had learned that any in whatever situation, I am
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Speaker 3: in to be content. That's Paul said the same. And
6:47
Speaker 3: I'd learned that God's word is true. Therefore what I
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Speaker 3: believe doesn't matter. But God's word is true. He is
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Speaker 3: that God's word is the authority. So in those situations
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Speaker 3: I had learned I can be content and in all situations,
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Speaker 3: just like Paul. It's not to say that there aren't trials,
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Speaker 3: but through it all, honestly, I was content and it
7:06
Speaker 3: solidified a lot. You know, what I had been learning
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Speaker 3: through scripture for decades and living it in the moment
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Speaker 3: is what we're called to do, and that's what I
7:16
Speaker 3: tried to do through the whole process. Let's let me
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Speaker 3: ask you questions that our readers and listeners will will
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Speaker 3: want me to ask you. From two hundred and fifty
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Speaker 3: miles above earth, or how for many miles it is
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Speaker 3: you got a unique perspective. How does this is not
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Speaker 3: specifically a question about that mission, but it's just a
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Speaker 3: question about being in space.
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Speaker 2: How does seeing.
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Speaker 1: Creation from space impact your understanding of your faith you're
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Speaker 1: understanding of God?
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Speaker 2: Does it deepen your personal faith?
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Speaker 3: I did not need to go to space to learn
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Speaker 3: anything about my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and the
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Speaker 3: plan of salvation and his plan for his plan and
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Speaker 3: his purposes that he's working out through the throughout time.
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Speaker 2: Right. I didn't need that because the God's word is sufficient.
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Speaker 2: I didn't need that. Does it strengthen you? Obviously? I
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Speaker 2: mean absolutely.
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Speaker 3: So you look at the beauty of this planet that
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Speaker 3: Isaiah forty five eighteen is very clear that God created
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Speaker 3: to be inhabited, and you understand and you see that.
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Speaker 3: You see the brilliant colors, the atmosphere, the variety the lightning,
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Speaker 3: and how he's you know, nourishing our planet with rainfall.
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Speaker 3: And you see that from above. You see shooting stars
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Speaker 3: from above looking down at Earth, you see them below you,
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Speaker 3: I mean those type of things and the aurora there
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Speaker 3: are is a protection of our planet because it's hiring
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Speaker 3: the electrons entering our atmosphere at the poles because it's magnetized,
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Speaker 3: and that's protection of the nasty radiation. That's you know,
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Speaker 3: zinging through the through space and it goes around our
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Speaker 3: planet because the Lord magnetized our planet. And that's just
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Speaker 3: visible evidence of the protection. So you see all that,
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Speaker 3: You understand all that, I mean with your own eyes,
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Speaker 3: not with a camera, not with via video. And it
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Speaker 3: is strengthening. Sure, it certainly is.
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Speaker 2: Did I need it know? But does it give me.
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Speaker 3: An even greater perspective of my Almighty God? Absolutely it does, Yes.
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Speaker 1: Sir, Let me plan that question. Then that there, This
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Speaker 1: is a different type of question. You're in the world
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Speaker 1: of science. Someone even call you an explorer. I guess
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Speaker 1: I know people in five hundred years ago would call
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Speaker 1: you an explore. There's often a debate about whether science
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Speaker 1: and faiths are in conflict.
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Speaker 2: How do you see that?
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Speaker 1: How do you how do you answer someone who ask
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Speaker 1: you about science and faith and greater action? That is
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Speaker 1: a great question and it's and it makes me chuckle.
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Speaker 1: That's why I smile because John three twenty seven.
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Speaker 3: As a verse, John the Baptist said a person cannot
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Speaker 3: receive even one thing list unless it's given to him
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Speaker 3: from heaven. God is their creator. You know, in the beginning,
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Speaker 3: God created the heavens and the earth. Multiple passages throughout
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Speaker 3: scripture shows that God created all things, and it's and
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Speaker 3: it's ironic to me that the creator of all things,
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Speaker 3: including science and technology, as he enables us and enlightens
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Speaker 3: us more and more in our understanding, that Satan has
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Speaker 3: gotten into the minds of people that they don't mix
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Speaker 3: and they don't together. I mean, that's it's ironic. It's
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Speaker 3: not that's not surprising, because Satan's a decebron has been
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Speaker 3: from the beginning. But it's something that the creator of science,
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Speaker 3: the creator of technology, the creator of everything that we
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Speaker 3: we know what we understand now, Satan has got it
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Speaker 3: in the minds of people that somehow that science and
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Speaker 3: God's word don't mix. I can tell you I've done
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Speaker 3: a study through the Bible. The Bible's not a science book,
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Speaker 3: but where it speaks to science, it's absolutely true. And
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Speaker 3: I have even a brief on that that I go
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Speaker 3: through and share a lot of those truths. Anyway, So yeah,
10:33
Speaker 3: it's it's very ironic, not ironic, it's very sad, but
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Speaker 3: it's it's it's the world in which we live right, idiots.
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Speaker 2: Satan sathan is is is he doesn't sleep, he doesn't rest.
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Speaker 3: He's going on on and on and on to deceit
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Speaker 3: in all aspects of life, including that.
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Speaker 1: Let's so let's ask a different type of question here,
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Speaker 1: a different type of subject. The purpose of manned exploration
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Speaker 1: of man's space, space exploration.
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Speaker 2: Because we can send robots.
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Speaker 1: We've done that with Jupiter, Cider and Arness and Neptune
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Speaker 1: and line is like that. In your view, what is
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Speaker 1: what is the purpose of man's space or exploration? What
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Speaker 1: do we gain by putting someone on the rocket seeing
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Speaker 1: them the space because it's not cheap, but it's awesome.
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Speaker 1: So yeah, what what would you ask? Well, how would
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Speaker 1: you answer someone who says, why why do we do this?
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Speaker 3: Let me let me put it into category. Let's put
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Speaker 3: it in the spiritual category. First discovery glorifies God. It
11:24
Speaker 3: has throughout history.
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Speaker 2: We've seen that. We see it even in scripture.
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Speaker 3: I mean, was it Tubalcane and Jubile were the first
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Speaker 3: to create and was this Genesis chapter four, to start
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Speaker 3: working in metals and came up with instruments. That is
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Speaker 3: an understanding that didn't exist before, and that glorifies God
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Speaker 3: as we continue to open up, as He continues to
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Speaker 3: open up, our understanding going into the heavens glorifies God.
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Speaker 2: These capabilities glorifies God.
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Speaker 3: Our rocket launching off of a path, that technology, the
11:50
Speaker 3: understanding of that glorifies God because He's enabled us to
11:53
Speaker 3: do that. So as we go further and we go
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Speaker 3: to the moon, we do those things. It all is
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Speaker 3: a glorifies Him if you see it with the correct perspective,
12:02
Speaker 3: and the correct perspective is the biblical perspective. So that's
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Speaker 3: the spiritual part. The practical side, this is what people
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Speaker 3: don't understand. I don't think about. You go to the moon,
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Speaker 3: you get a handful of dirt, you move, move regularly,
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Speaker 3: and you say, wow, that costs X number of billions
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Speaker 3: of dollars this handful of dirt. Well, no, that's that's
12:23
Speaker 3: not that. That's not what is taking place. It is
12:26
Speaker 3: a complete industry and it is it is. It is
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Speaker 3: supporting all the way up and down the labor chain.
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Speaker 3: I mean from the individuals that are going into the
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Speaker 3: coal mines and getting the coal that produces the power
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Speaker 3: to power the buildings that the welders work in to
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Speaker 3: weld the huge rockets together to the scientists and the
12:45
Speaker 3: tech and those in technology that are building. It's an
12:47
Speaker 3: industry throughout our nation and it supports our nation's economy.
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Speaker 3: So those billions of dollars are not spent on that piece,
12:54
Speaker 3: that that handful of regulith. It is supporting an entire
12:58
Speaker 3: industry and our nation that fuels our economy. So that's
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Speaker 3: one thing I haven't heard people say. I'm not sure why.
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Speaker 3: Just like any other large industry, it's a jobs program.
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Speaker 3: That's part of what industry is. It supports livelihood, it
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Speaker 3: supports families, it supports your you know, your mortgage, it
13:20
Speaker 3: supports all of that. And our human spaceflight program is
13:22
Speaker 3: no different. It does exactly the same thing.
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Speaker 2: But there are discoveries in.
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Speaker 1: Space that have been made and advances that have been
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Speaker 1: made that have benefited us on Earth as well.
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Speaker 3: Sure, I mean that must cell phone setting and that's
13:35
Speaker 3: all from initiated from NASA technology. I mean, how would
13:39
Speaker 3: you feel about not having a cell phone in this
13:41
Speaker 3: age in which we live? You can, we can't even
13:43
Speaker 3: function without it. Yeah, it's got its baseline, its foundation
13:46
Speaker 3: and technology with NASA. All right, let me ask you too, Arth,
13:49
Speaker 3: that's one of the biggest examples. Let me ask you
13:51
Speaker 3: for work questions, what is what is launch like?
13:54
Speaker 2: And what is re entry like? And which is which
13:57
Speaker 2: is scarier?
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Speaker 3: You know, I can't say either as scary because this
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Speaker 3: is something you know you've had a desire to do
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Speaker 3: since you were a kid, that you imagine these things
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Speaker 3: and the Lord gives you a desire.
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Speaker 2: Of your heart and there you are scary.
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Speaker 3: There's all many types of things that could wrong, but
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Speaker 3: go wrong, but that's in all aspects of life. Put
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Speaker 3: it in that kind of perspective, it's fascinating, it's amazing.
14:29
Speaker 3: I mean, you're literally leaving the planet when you launch,
14:31
Speaker 3: and there's g forces and the rocket is rolling and
14:35
Speaker 3: it depletes the prop the propellant in one section and
14:39
Speaker 3: there's jarring as that section separates, and the next one
14:41
Speaker 3: lights off and you start going again and oh bye.
14:44
Speaker 3: And you look out the window as you roll and
14:46
Speaker 3: you're seeing the clouds from way way way above that
14:48
Speaker 3: you've never seen before. It's just mesmerizing. And then back,
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Speaker 3: Oh my. We used to call it an E ticket
14:55
Speaker 3: when I was a kid, and we go to the fair,
14:56
Speaker 3: you get the E ticket that was the wild ride
14:58
Speaker 3: they were called E tickets. I don't why, but it's
15:01
Speaker 3: an E ticket ride from start to finish re enter
15:03
Speaker 3: in the atmosphere. I mean you're literally inside of a
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Speaker 3: four five thousand degree fireball, returning the atmosphere from seventeen thousand,
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Speaker 3: five hundred miles an hour down to below parachute speeds,
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Speaker 3: and the whole ride is just a for real I mean,
15:15
Speaker 3: there's high G forces, that's changes. Yes, there's things that
15:18
Speaker 3: could happen, but hey, there's nothing you can do about
15:20
Speaker 3: at that point.
15:20
Speaker 2: Just enjoy it.
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Speaker 1: You're really unique of which in that you have gone
15:24
Speaker 1: up in a shuttle, You've gone up in a Soyer's Rock,
15:26
Speaker 1: and then you've gone up in this bloweing, this bowling
15:29
Speaker 1: starlinter test crabs, and you've returned on a SpaceX cap.
15:33
Speaker 1: So I think, if I remember correctly, you've returned by
15:37
Speaker 1: landing on an airstrip. You've returned by landing in the
15:42
Speaker 1: ocean a parachute, and by landing if I'm correct, on land.
15:47
Speaker 2: Which is how the Russians do it. Am I correct?
15:48
Speaker 1: There has anybody else done that? How many people have
15:52
Speaker 1: done that? Turned all three ways?
15:54
Speaker 2: Uh, there's just a handful.
15:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, what we two of us, said, have flown five
15:59
Speaker 3: spacecraft if you count the space station. That's me and Sonny.
16:02
Speaker 3: Nobody's in the history has ever done that. But just
16:06
Speaker 3: praise the Lord. I mean, it's just an opportunity that
16:08
Speaker 3: he's given. Just give him the glory for it all.
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Speaker 2: Which one did you, uh, compare the three types of returns?
16:14
Speaker 2: I mean, is there is there.
16:15
Speaker 1: I've always thought the Russians landing on land Is could
16:19
Speaker 1: be a little bit scary, but air the three, I'll
16:22
Speaker 1: give it.
16:22
Speaker 3: I'll give you an analogy. The the space shuttles like
16:24
Speaker 3: a Cadillac, big sturdy. It rocks and rolls a little bit,
16:30
Speaker 3: but it's firm. The soy used, I would compare it
16:33
Speaker 3: to one of those racing cars in the desert that's
16:36
Speaker 3: bounding and going and doing all of that. It is
16:39
Speaker 3: rugged and sturdy, but it is.
16:41
Speaker 1: It is a right.
16:42
Speaker 3: It is. It is mister Toad's wild ride. It is
16:45
Speaker 3: because the parachutes open initial and you're spinning, is it is?
16:49
Speaker 3: It unfurls and oh my, it's just amazing. I would say,
16:52
Speaker 3: returning on a dragon. We had a Volkswagen Beetle when
16:57
Speaker 3: I was a kid, and it had it was different.
16:59
Speaker 3: Had it engine in the back, air cooled, but it
17:02
Speaker 3: it fired up every time we had it for over
17:04
Speaker 3: a decade.
17:05
Speaker 2: It was it was capable, it did its job well.
17:08
Speaker 2: It was just different. And I would say that's the Dragon.
17:11
Speaker 2: It is different.
17:11
Speaker 3: It's this the as you deorbit burn it takes much longer.
17:14
Speaker 3: The thrusters are different and they kind of pulse and
17:17
Speaker 3: you hear them clicking click, they click click. But you
17:19
Speaker 3: make it back to Earth and everything works well. So
17:21
Speaker 3: I would I would say it's the Volkswagen Beetle.
17:24
Speaker 1: How do you sleep in space? How do you sleep
17:28
Speaker 1: very comfortably? Because you have no no no pressure on
17:32
Speaker 1: your joints.
17:32
Speaker 3: As a matter of fact, no reason why anybody would
17:34
Speaker 3: know this, but your joints, your ligaments goes to a
17:37
Speaker 3: neutral position. So this is I'm showing you this right here,
17:41
Speaker 3: because this is about the position that you would people
17:43
Speaker 3: sleep in because everything just neutralizes, right. Even your waist
17:48
Speaker 3: bends a little bit because those tendons as well go
17:50
Speaker 3: to that neutral position.
17:52
Speaker 2: And it's so it's very very comfortable.
17:54
Speaker 3: It's there's a transition because you know, I sleep on
17:57
Speaker 3: my side and I'm very very comfortable all my and
18:00
Speaker 3: there's a transition from that comfort to a floating comfort.
18:03
Speaker 1: But once you get it nice. Do you ever feel
18:06
Speaker 1: confined in space? You're out there with people that you
18:10
Speaker 1: get along with, but after a few months, anybody's going
18:13
Speaker 1: to have problems. I mean, you can't leave, You're just
18:15
Speaker 1: suck with a what's Do you ever feel confined and
18:19
Speaker 1: just want to get out of there?
18:21
Speaker 3: The attitude that I had, I tried to share the
18:24
Speaker 3: attitude is that my responsibility, my biggest responsibility, is to
18:28
Speaker 3: make this evolution of spaceflight the best possible evolution of
18:35
Speaker 3: your professional career. Whoever I'm with, that's my responsibility to
18:38
Speaker 3: make sure you have the best time ever. And if
18:41
Speaker 3: I can maintain that attitude, then then everything's well. Now,
18:44
Speaker 3: is there a conflict? Yeah, of course there are. I
18:46
Speaker 3: mean you're thrown in a can with with people you
18:48
Speaker 3: didn't choose to live with, and eventually something's going to happen,
18:51
Speaker 3: of course, and you but you've got to get past it,
18:52
Speaker 3: and you got to move forward, and you got to
18:54
Speaker 3: continue that your time up here. I need to make
18:59
Speaker 3: sure it's the best ever. All right, let me ask
19:01
Speaker 3: you a couple more questions where we close here, Let's
19:03
Speaker 3: chant them on Artemists two. As we talk right now,
19:06
Speaker 3: Artemis two just went around the moon and came back.
19:09
Speaker 2: It was a massive success. What were your thoughts throughout
19:12
Speaker 2: that mission? I think a lot of us were on
19:14
Speaker 2: pins and needles. What was your what were your faults?
19:18
Speaker 3: When you launched eight eight million pounds of thrust, that's
19:21
Speaker 3: the that's the strongest rocket we've ever launched with humans
19:24
Speaker 3: on it. And then the translunar injection burn is the
19:28
Speaker 3: same burn that puts you on a course to come
19:31
Speaker 3: all the way back. There aren't there are little tweaking burns,
19:33
Speaker 3: but there's no other major burn because this was a
19:35
Speaker 3: free return trajectory around the moon. So that burn had
19:39
Speaker 3: to go off and go off well, and it did.
19:41
Speaker 3: So there's there's these these points throughout a mission where
19:44
Speaker 3: things need to go right. Once that burn takes place,
19:48
Speaker 3: there's no stopping. There's no stopping coming back if you
19:51
Speaker 3: have a problem. So let's say the cabin lost pressurization
19:55
Speaker 3: right after the burn, Well you got the whole trip,
19:58
Speaker 3: You got eight days before you get back. So one
20:01
Speaker 3: of the requirements was that the spacesuits that they wear
20:04
Speaker 3: they had to be able to maintain pressure and stay
20:07
Speaker 3: in the suits for that length of time. So think
20:09
Speaker 3: about this, You're going to have the minimal ability with
20:14
Speaker 3: whatever water you have in the suit for an eight
20:17
Speaker 3: day period and because that's all you're going to get
20:19
Speaker 3: a little bit of water, and so you'd have to
20:22
Speaker 3: survive through that whole thing because there was not another capsule,
20:27
Speaker 3: a part of another capsule where you could pressurize and
20:29
Speaker 3: go into. That's one of the things that's kind of
20:31
Speaker 3: it's a little bit hanging it out at Polo eight,
20:33
Speaker 3: did it. They're the only one that went to left
20:35
Speaker 3: lower th orbit without another capsule with them, which was
20:39
Speaker 3: the lunar module, And we did it here as well.
20:42
Speaker 3: The next time we go beyond lower th orbit, we'll
20:45
Speaker 3: have another capsule kind of a safe even area to
20:48
Speaker 3: go to, or we will be going to one that
20:50
Speaker 3: is in position of the Moon and that and so,
20:53
Speaker 3: you know, most people don't realize that, but that's that's
20:55
Speaker 3: hanging out a little bit, a little bit on the
20:57
Speaker 3: edge there, but that's that's part of what we do.
21:00
Speaker 1: Victor Glover was the pilot of that mission. He's a
21:02
Speaker 1: person who's a Christian as well like you. What were
21:05
Speaker 1: your thoughts as he was, you know, opening his faith,
21:08
Speaker 1: which he's been for a long time. I followed his career,
21:11
Speaker 1: But but what were your thoughts as he even spoke
21:13
Speaker 1: about Christ on the mission?
21:16
Speaker 2: Expected?
21:17
Speaker 3: Because I know him, I know him well. We talk
21:18
Speaker 3: about our Lord often. As a matter of fact, I
21:20
Speaker 3: just texted with him yesterday since he got back. And
21:23
Speaker 3: you know, he's a he's a brother in Christ. I
21:25
Speaker 3: try to encourage him. He encourages me, and we did
21:28
Speaker 3: that yesterday as well. So it was fully expected and
21:31
Speaker 3: he's not going to shy away from it, just like me.
21:33
Speaker 3: He never used his position to proselyte his his belief
21:37
Speaker 3: unless he got asked a specific question like you asked
21:40
Speaker 3: that question earlier about Starliner. You asked the right question,
21:43
Speaker 3: so you got the answer. And the same thing happled
21:44
Speaker 3: with me a couple of times on orbit. People ask
21:47
Speaker 3: me specifically questions about my feelings. Well, I am content,
21:50
Speaker 3: and I got to share that Christ is the reason
21:53
Speaker 3: I'm content, and look like Paul said, so he'll do
21:55
Speaker 3: the same thing, and I'm proud of for doing that
21:58
Speaker 3: because you can't separate who you are from what you do,
22:02
Speaker 3: nor should you.
22:03
Speaker 2: What's the key takeaway from your book? But before I
22:06
Speaker 2: let you go, oh, open the now and eternal hope.
22:11
Speaker 2: Hoping the now. Everybody feels stuck in something.
22:14
Speaker 3: And if you trust in the Lord, you trust he's
22:17
Speaker 3: working out his planning and his purposes for his glory
22:20
Speaker 3: and your ultimate good. If you believe, then there's hope
22:22
Speaker 3: in every single situation. And you know the fact that
22:26
Speaker 3: He shed his blood for us, paid the price for
22:28
Speaker 3: my sin, incurred the wrath of God, the Father from
22:30
Speaker 3: my sin. Therefore I can be forgiven. He lived the
22:33
Speaker 3: life I couldn't and took the punishment I deserve. And
22:36
Speaker 3: that is eternal hope because he is my savior. And
22:39
Speaker 3: that's also that that's just the book point people that
22:41
Speaker 3: that's why I published it, the hope mess and not
22:43
Speaker 3: to tell a story about starline that though we do that,
22:46
Speaker 3: not to tell a story about combat flying you know
22:48
Speaker 3: off aircraft cares that we do that.
22:50
Speaker 1: It's the message that's important. Let me ask you one
22:53
Speaker 1: more question that just popped in my head. We live
22:55
Speaker 1: in a social media age that passed out on everything
23:00
Speaker 1: and go to the moon. I'm assuming you've been around
23:01
Speaker 1: people who did go to the moon, But there are
23:03
Speaker 1: some people who think that the moon shot was completely
23:08
Speaker 1: fictional because technology back then was pretty primitive compared to
23:12
Speaker 1: what we have now. I don't know if you've ever
23:14
Speaker 1: met anybody like that, but if you did, how would you.
23:16
Speaker 3: Respond, Oh, I've met many people like that. I get
23:19
Speaker 3: those lifessmens flatter we didn't go to the Moon. I
23:22
Speaker 3: get that constantly. I would say that four hundred thousand people,
23:25
Speaker 3: just from data, four hundred thousand people work on the
23:28
Speaker 3: Moon program back in the sixties and seventies, four hundred thousand.
23:31
Speaker 3: Not one single person, not one, has ever come forward
23:33
Speaker 3: and said we didn't do it, not one. I mean,
23:37
Speaker 3: people are going to believe what they're going to believe.
23:39
Speaker 3: And I understand some skepticism because nations have lied to
23:42
Speaker 3: their people. We see it today all the time. Nations
23:44
Speaker 3: are lying to their people, and so that makes you
23:46
Speaker 3: skeptical about big things like that, did it really happen?
23:49
Speaker 1: I get it.
23:50
Speaker 3: But there's evidence beyond even comprehension that I could share
23:54
Speaker 3: for another thirty minutes of the shows that we did
23:57
Speaker 3: go to the Moon. And as a believer in Christ,
23:59
Speaker 3: I would not lie for my nation because my my
24:02
Speaker 3: Lord tells me not to lie, and I would not
24:04
Speaker 3: do that, and I will and Charlie Duke an other
24:07
Speaker 3: gentleman went to the moon of fob of sixteen that
24:09
Speaker 3: I know. I know well he would not lie for
24:11
Speaker 3: his nation over his lord.
24:13
Speaker 2: And so we went to the moon. We absolutely did,
24:15
Speaker 2: and we're going again.
24:16
Speaker 1: I think the Soviets had many spies over here. I
24:18
Speaker 1: think they would have probably fessed up, untiled everybody. They
24:21
Speaker 1: didn't go, if if we if we didn't go. I
24:23
Speaker 1: think that's one of the better, one of the better
24:25
Speaker 1: comebacks there. You mentioned you mentioned flat earth. You're natch
24:29
Speaker 1: not You've been around the world and you said you've
24:32
Speaker 1: maped people who believe in a flat earth.
24:34
Speaker 2: How do those conversations go?
24:36
Speaker 3: I try to say it lovingly. If you're using scripture
24:38
Speaker 3: and some do just to say that the Earth is flat,
24:41
Speaker 3: then that that is a concern. And the reason it
24:44
Speaker 3: is a concern is it is because you are not
24:47
Speaker 3: discerning scripture correctly. Because the Earth is not flat. And
24:51
Speaker 3: if you're saying that the scriptures say, you know, it
24:54
Speaker 3: leads to the fact that the Earth is flat. That's
24:56
Speaker 3: concerning because if you're discerned not correctly discerning no scriptures,
25:01
Speaker 3: you're likely not correctly discerning other scriptures as well.
25:04
Speaker 2: And that's why, it's why it's concerned. And I try
25:06
Speaker 2: to love them and just share share that with them.
25:08
Speaker 2: But you've been, You've been around this world and it's
25:10
Speaker 2: non flat.
25:11
Speaker 1: Yere better fact, I'll tell that data to Hey, I've been.
25:15
Speaker 3: I've circled the planet seven thousand, four hundred and twenty
25:18
Speaker 3: four times, and every single.
25:20
Speaker 2: Time I went around the planet, it was round.
25:25
Speaker 4: If you enjoy today's interview, please make sure to subscribe
25:28
Speaker 4: and share the episode with a friend. A big thanks
25:31
Speaker 4: to the team at life Audio for their partnership with
25:33
Speaker 4: us on the podcast. If you go to lifeaudio dot com,
25:36
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Speaker 4: their network.
25:41
Speaker 2: See you next time.