History Book: A passion for space

JENNY ROUGH, HOST: Today is Monday, January 27th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Jenny Rough.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Up next, the WORLD History Book.

Twenty two years ago this week, the families of seven astronauts are waiting for the return of the Space Shuttle Columbia. What they don’t know is the spacecraft was damaged on liftoff, and that a small breach would bring a big disaster.

ROUGH: WORLD’s Caleb Welde has the story of Columbia’s mission commander who believed he was right where God wanted him to be.

CALEB WELDE: Rick Husband had wanted to be an astronaut, ever since he was four years old.

HUSBAND: You hear little kids say “I want to be an astronaut,” or I want to be this or that. And you think “aw, that’s nice.” But I kept saying it.

After college, he joined the U.S. Air Force and became a test pilot in 1987.

When his first application to NASA got turned down, Husband and his wife Evelyn began to grow in their faith. He applied again, and was turned down a second time. After the third rejection he thought he’d probably never fly in space.

One day Husband got a letter from a friend who mentioned Psalm 37 verse 4…

HUSBAND: Commit your way to the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. So I got to looking at that. It was almost like, it's almost like God asked me, okay, so what really are the desires of your heart?

This is Husband from a 2003 interview.

HUSBAND: And so I initially, the first thing that I kind of brought to mind was, well, I want to be an astronaut, but then it's like God said, no, no, no, no. Think about it for a little while and tell me what really is the desire of your heart.

He did think about it.

HUSBAND: And I finally came to realize that what really meant the most to me was to try and live my life the way God wanted me to.

Husband says it felt like a light bulb came on.

HUSBAND: I finally realized that this thing about being an astronaut was not as important as I thought it was.

But the opportunity came for Husband to apply one more time.

HUSBAND: And so then, sure enough, came the opportunity for us to apply, again.

On previous applications, Husband had not been completely truthful about his vision. This time he told the whole truth. While his vision wasn’t terrible, it was on the edge. So he admitted that he had worn contact lenses at one point, a fact that would usually take a candidate out of consideration. Husband argued with God the whole way to the post office.

HUSBAND: And I'm going, oh, you know this, how's this ever going to work? And he's saying, just trust me, just wait and see. Besides, if you said you don't care where you go or what happens, and you just want to live the way I want you to live, then don't worry about it!

He was certain NASA would notice the inconsistency, realizing he’d lied on his previous applications.

HUSBAND: They're going to say what a scumbag this guy is. And, you know, toss the toss the application. And you know, that's the kind of situation where you can say, The Devil loves a secret. Because if he knows that you've got something that you're trying to hide, he can use it against you in such a huge way. And so I just dropped the thing in the mail. I said, Okay, Lord, let's just see what happens.

Husband was also praying, “Lord, if this isn’t from you, please take away the desire, to be an astronaut.” Then, no word for months. He thought maybe he’d just never hear back.

HUSBAND: And then something would come in the mail, like my Air Force supervisor would send me a thing saying, hey, NASA, just sent me a survey for me to fill out on you. So here's a copy of what I sent them.

Then one day, NASA called and asked if he could come in for interviews the next week. He knew the interviews would include an eye exam.

HUSBAND: So I went into the first morning to take that test, and I flunked it?!

He asked if he could retest. NASA agreed. Two of Husband’s squadron teammates told him they’d fast and pray for him.

HUSBAND: And Evelyn was doing the same, and she had other people praying.

He passed. Both eyes improved. By this point, Husband says he didn’t care if he got hired or not. But NASA approved his application and his first mission was 1999:

When he got back, people asked if the trip changed his perspective on God. Yes… and no.

He tells this story about eating dinner with his wife after getting back.

HUSBAND: And we watched a really beautiful sunset down there on the on the Banana River. And as we sat there, I told Evelyn, I said, you know, this is every bit as beautiful as the sunrises or sunsets that I saw up on orbit and the great thing about it is that it lasts a whole lot longer, and you can sit and actually enjoy it. But it was just a time for me to really express my thanks, I think, to God for allowing me to be able to go and do that.

Soon, Husband began training to lead a mission.

The STS-107 Columbia mission would be his first. He was forty-five now and a colonel in the Air Force. There were a million things to do in the final weeks leading up to the trip. Husband prioritized recording individual video tapes for his kids.

EVELYN: And so each morning, Laura watched her tape, and Matthew watched his.

Evelyn Husband here on the Revive Our Hearts podcast.

EVELYN: And it was about five minutes long, he would read from their devotional books, and pray with them, read the Bible verse and a little story, and then just talk to them and say a prayer with them, just like he did at home.

He also prayed together with his wife:

EVELYN: We prayed over our children and we prayed for each other, and I don't think there's anything more powerful than that, to be still before the Lord.

Husband and his six member crew launched from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on January 16th, 2003. They spent nearly 16 days in orbit.

On January 28th Husband called Evelyn from space. It was the anniversary of the Challenger disaster in 1986—when a shuttle exploded during take off. They both knew the seven astronauts who died that day. January 28th was also the anniversary of their first date.

EVELYN: And so his very first words to me that early morning were happy dating anniversary.

It was their last conversion.

EVELYN: Then Rick went on later that day to honor and remember the Challenger crew…

TV COVERAGE: We are breaking away from the Today Show now for the landing of the Space Shuttle Columbia…

Evelyn and the children were at the Kennedy Space Center, the morning of February 1st.

TV COVERAGE: Columbia approaching the coast of California now…

They could hear the live audio transmission between Mission Control and Columbia. Then, about 9 am Eastern Time, the transmission cut off.

WFAA: And we now have confirmation through the Associated Press NASA has declared an emergency this morning after losing communication with the Space Shuttle Columbia…

ABC: Columbia was at 200,000 feet going 12,500 miles per hour when it suddenly broke up…

The funeral service was held at the Husbands’ Grace Community Church in Houston. Pastor Steve O’ Donohoe described Husband as “probably the godliest man I’ve ever met.”

EVELYN: He wanted, more than anything else, to tell people, for people to know about Jesus, so much so that on his contingency sheet that he wrote out just in case something happened, to tell them about Jesus, that Jesus is real to him.

We end today with one final clip from Husband’s preflight interview. Words that take on deeper meaning looking back.

HUSBAND: It's always amazing how we can take a look at where we are now, looking forward, and wonder, how is God going to work this out? And I've learned over the years that if I just trust God, I don't have a clue how it's going to work out, but at some point, when I look back, it'll all fall into place so perfectly and in a way that I could never imagine. That even though you may have these pangs and you may think you want to worry about things, just think, just trust him, and he'll take care of it.

That’s this week’s WORLD History Book. I’m Caleb Welde.

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