Victor Glover had 240,000 miles of empty space behind him and an Easter message for the rest of us.
The Artemis II pilot, a devout Christian, paused his lunar mission this weekend to deliver a faith-filled address to people back on Earth, praising God’s creation and calling humanity to reflection just days before Easter Sunday.
“As we are so far from earth and looking back at the beauty of creation,” Glover said, “I can really see earth as one thing.”
“You’re on a spaceship called Earth that was created to give us a place to live in the universe, in the cosmos,” he told viewers. “Maybe the distance we are from you makes you think what we’re doing is special, but we’re the same distance from you, and I’m trying to tell you, just trust me, you are special.”
“When I read the Bible and I look at all of the amazing things that were done for us, who were created,” Glover said, “it’s — you have this amazing place, this spaceship.”
He called the universe mostly emptiness. A whole lot of nothing. But in the middle of all that darkness, one small planet in one small solar system in one small galaxy had been set apart. “In all of this emptiness, this is a whole bunch of nothing, this thing we call the universe, you have this oasis, this beautiful place that we get to exist together,” he said, as crew members nodded around him.
Glover extended the message beyond Christian believers, saying Easter offered anyone a chance to consider the bigger picture — but he didn’t shy away from the faith that shapes his own. “As we go into Easter Sunday thinking about all the cultures all around the world,” he said, “whether you celebrate it or not, whether you believe in God or not, this is an opportunity for us to remember where we are, who we are, and that we are the same thing and we’ve gotta get through this together.”
