A Bible on the Moon

Description

When NASA scientist and Chaplain John Stout accepted a position in the Apollo program at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, he planned to stay for only one year – no more.

      That all changed on January 27, 1967, when Apollo 1 astronaut Ed White II, the young astronaut he had often ministered to, died with his crewmates in a flash fire on the launch pad. As a chaplain to many of the astronauts, Stout had grown close to White, and knew the young astronaut had planned to carry a Bible to the moon.

      With this, Reverend Stout vowed to stay on and see Ed White’s dream fulfilled. But undertaking a religious endeavor in the midst of a government space program was not an easy task.

      Among Stout’s obstacles was a lawsuit launched by renowned atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair against NASA to prevent religious acts in space. It fell to Stout and his Apollo Prayer League to find a way.

      The result was an extraordinary drama that unfolded behind the scenes as America rushed headlong to the moon.

      The story of the Apollo Space Program is as unknown as it is unique. The technological triumphs of the Apollo missions were the focus of unparalleled media frenzy in the 1960s and ’70s as America rushed headlong to the moon.

      Yet behind the forgotten bylines are the stories of those in NASA who undertook a challenge of a different sort. These astronauts were not only men of science, many were men of faith as well, and a daring that allowed them to leap into the unknown. The result is an extraordinary drama that unfolded behind the scenes.

      Their stories are as remarkable as the men and women who lived them.