Forty-four-year-old astronaut, Victor Glover, packed his Bible and communion cups for the long journey to the International Space Station this week, according to The Christian Post.
Glover, the first Black astronaut to travel on a long-term mission in space, sat down to a virtual interview with The Christian Chronicle to discuss his faith.
“As I prepare to leave the planet … it’s allowed me to focus, or re-focus, on the things that matter most,” he said. “… God assigned me a few really important things. One, this life…But, also, my wife and then the family we have grown here.”
Glover joins three other crew members on SpaceX Crew Dragon’s capsule Resilience. The group are among the first to travel on a commercially developed space vehicle certified by NASA and the FAA.
With Internet services in space, Glover will also attend virtual services for his Houston-based church, Southeast Church of Christ.
This flight marks Glover’s first foray into space after serving as a Navy F/A-18 carrier pilot, as well as a legislative aide to the late U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
“Before I go and even get in an airplane to go on a flight, I say a prayer, and I always think about my family,” he said.
With his wife, Dionna, of 18 years, Glover has four children.
In his video interview, Glover paid special tribute to several Black leaders by wearing a sweatshirt with their names, including Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., poet Maya Angelou, civil rights activist Rosa Parks, educator George Washington Carver, and boxer Mohammad Ali.
“God doesn’t really have to have a concern for my patriotism, but I am an American. And we are blessed to be born in America,” he said. “All of us should understand…the legacy that we’re all a part of. … I do think we have work to do in terms of making sure that a complete and entire whole story is told.”
