Posted on 09/02/2025 4:40:08 AM PDT by daniel1212
My name is Joe Owen. I head up the worldwide languages ministry at Answers in Genesis.
That's Charlie Duke. There were nine missions to the moon. I worked on five of them. In 1978, I became a born again Christian.
I came to faith on January 19, 1988. I was selected by NASA in 1996, and I flew four times—once on the space shuttle going to the space station and then three expeditions, each about six months long.
Many times, I am introduced as an astronaut, but if I were to describe myself, I certainly wouldn't call myself an astronaut, because the way I see myself is as a wretched sinner who is saved by grace. Second from being a wretched sinner saved by grace, I consider myself a naval aviator.
Barry and I actually shared a little bit of time in space—his first flight. He launched on the space shuttle STS 129 while I was on an expedition on the space station. So, he brought me fresh food, and there you go.
We had a great time.
He allowed us into his home because he was living there, of course, and we were just visiting. But it was a great experience. Jeff, at one point you had the most days in space. It's over 500 days, correct?
Yeah, I think they say 534 days.
And now, Butch, you're getting up there. You're at 446 total days, but also, you just came back from, as many people know, a mission that went longer than planned. Was it 286 days with the Starliner launch? So, I have three very interesting fellas in front of me with perspectives that a lot of us don't have. What is the wow moment?
The biggest wow for me is the grandeur of this place that we call home, which God created and uniquely provisioned for our habitation—we call it Earth. Orbiting the Earth 16 times a day for a year and a half, studying the surface of the Earth, and taking in all of the details you can see from that vantage point was the most spectacular part of the experience for me.
As soon as I got to space, the engines on the space shuttle cut off. We separated from the external tank. I felt weightlessness for the first time. There were jets in the nose of the space shuttle that were blasting orange bursts right up in front of me. I could hear it—little explosions at my feet. Boom. Boom. One of my crewmates levitated up from the mid deck. He didn’t climb the ladder, he just levitated up. I'd seen it on video, but never with my own eyes. It was the strangest sight—just floating up from below. When the shuttle separated from the external tank, water droplets on the tank turned to ice. Thousands of ice crystals floated outside the window, illuminated by the sun. It looked like glistening diamonds—thousands of them outside the window. Orange blast. Boom. Boom. Boom. I felt weightless. Still strapped in, my crewmates levitating everywhere. And I thought, “Wow, Lord. How did I get here? How did I get to this point where I am the guy in this seat and all this is taking place?” That was a pretty wild moment.
I think one of the most moving times of my flight was when we went into orbit around the moon and came around from the backside; we had Earthrise for the first time. Honestly, my first thought was, “We are a long way from home. I hope this thing holds together.” But then the beauty of it hit: that vision of Earth. It’s a beautiful planet. You don’t see any evidence of civilization, just that jewel suspended in the blackness of space. Vividly impressed in my mind still today.
General, when you say that, I think—wow, that vantage point of our planet from the backside of the moon, only 24 individuals have experienced that. You were one of them. That’s very special—a gift from the Lord not many people have had.
I can’t say at that point I recalled the Apollo 8 Christmas Eve broadcast. Bill Anders took that picture of Earth coming up and they started reading from Genesis: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." I got back and looked in the scriptures and it says, "When God made the earth, he suspended it upon nothing." That’s exactly what it looks like.
The three of you, in your wow moments, have not spoken about what everyone else mentions. When we ask an astronaut, we ask about the stars in the distance. All three of you have focused on Earth. I think that points again to our planet being where those made in the image of God are—the stewards and recipients of the gospel. Jesus came to this earth.
One of my favorite themes from scripture: when we think about the works of God, we think of creation, redemption, His provision and sustaining creation, but sometimes forget His work as governor and providence.
I'll echo that. He’s absolutely right. This amazing created globe that Isaiah tells us the Lord created to be inhabited—you can see that from space. It's a demonstration of God's providential care for each of us.
Everywhere I go, General, they ask: “The moon landings never happened, right?” Some people say it’s hard to believe they were fake. I say it’s hard to believe they were real. The moon landing—I just can't get behind it. I can’t believe it happened. There’s a bunch of weird theories.
It's regrettable that people believe 400,000 people supported the moon program and could all be part of a conspiracy. People believe that for strange reasons. But we know, of course, you went. There’s no way we would all stand here, professing our faith in Jesus Christ, and boldface lie to everyone—plus maintain that secret for 55 years.
The evidence is overwhelming. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has taken pictures of every Apollo landing site—there it is! Some say that's part of the conspiracy, too.
Charlie, describe what it’s like to hop around on the moon in a heavy suit at one-sixth gravity.
Down here, with all my gear on, I weighed 363 pounds. Up on the moon, 60 pounds. So you had this bounciness. Boy, was that fun. But you had to bend over to keep your center of gravity over your feet, or you’d tilt backward or fall forward. It was easy once we got used to it and how to move around the surface. John and I had a rover, so we didn’t walk far but drove 17 miles. I fell down a couple times while working on an experiment.
So now I'm flat on my face on the moon, and John's off somewhere busy. So I started a series of push-ups—rocked up on my feet and stood up. "How'd you like that?" "Ah, beautiful maneuver there, Charlie."
I felt right at home on the moon. The beauty—the rolling hills, craters, mountains, the clear horizon—no atmosphere, so you see the sharp line between black space and the gray moon. We had so much fun, I didn’t want to come back. “Come on, Houston, give us two more hours.” "Get in the spacecraft, guys." Our last hour on the moon was moving for me. I brought a picture of my family, dropped it on the moon. I thank God, looking back, for His providence, giving me that opportunity.
The general term is "spacewalk," but truly, of the three of us, only one walked on the moon. Jeff and I "spacehanded" on the space station, climbing hand over hand outside the station for nearly seven hours. It was the hardest thing we did—physically and mentally—but also the most rewarding.
This flat earth movement is gaining popularity, which surprises me. Of course, the earth is spherical. When I first heard about the flat earth movement in 2016, I thought it was satire. When I got back, I realized it was a new movement. Whenever I speak, this question comes up. Usually, someone knows a flat-earther. There's no logic to the argument. I've given up trying to argue logically. It's utter foolishness. It’s becoming more concerning: If you can believe that, you could be led astray about the truth of Scripture. It’s a dangerous heretical line of thinking.
You can look at the pictures we took of the earth—it’s round. No question. How can you defend a flat earth?
"How can you believe in the Bible and science? Aren’t those contradictory?" The true understanding of science is only understood through the biblical lens. During the age of science—Kepler, Newton, Maxwell—all were believers, driven to scientific endeavor by faith in a God of order. There's a mathematical, chemical, physical order in creation that makes science possible. We bear the image of God, the Creator; we are creative. In Genesis 1, God says to Adam, “Subdue the earth, have dominion.” Scientific endeavor, rightly understood, is subduing God’s provision.
Meanwhile, during the same era, you can see the evolution of evolutionary thought: what became known as Darwinian theory. Some, like Huxley, hated the church and even acknowledged there was little genuine science in Darwin’s work.
When people ask how the Bible and science fit, I point to Matthew 24—‘Be not deceived.’ Saying Bible and science are at odds is a deception. The Bible is absolutely true: inerrant, infallible, sufficient for all we need. It isn’t a science book, but where it speaks to science, it’s accurate, 100%. To say otherwise is heretical. Except for miracles, the Bible aligns 100% with science.
Science increasingly proves that life is not an accident: the genome, the helixes, are mathematically impossible by chance. I was a big evolutionist; that’s what NASA taught me. They called the moon rock I brought back four billion years old. They say it’s the oldest rock on earth that John and I picked up. Well, it might be the oldest, but it’s not four billion years old—that’s not what the Bible says. I believe scripture.
Sorry to bring such a philosophical, theological question at the end, but do astronauts get to keep their space suits?
No. Some keep gloves, like maybe Jeff has his Russian space suit gloves, I did not keep mine. Some keep something like that, but that’s about it. Russians have a tradition of giving gloves after a spacewalk.
Did you get to keep any of your suit?
Me? No. I wasn’t allowed to keep any of the suit. I kept some tools from the moon, and all the checklists. No moon rocks—they wouldn’t let us. You’d go to jail for a rock!
One of the neat calculations you can do with the Moon is how fast you’d have to travel on its equator to see the Sun sit still, that is the velocity of its spin at its equator. The answer is 10.3 miles per hour which is easy enough to do with a fast walk!
—
I never thought of it that way. 10 mph is pretty fast. Let’s see, the Moon rotates once on its axis with every orbit around the Earth, keeping the same side facing the Earth. So if you can match the rotation rate, you can stay in the sunlight.
C = πD, where D is the diameter of the Moon.
C = π⋅(2,158) = 6,779.557 miles. C/29.5 = 229.8 miles/day.
229.8/24 hours = 9.58 mph.
You would have to adjust more to the east on the surface of the Moon to account for the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Here, add one additional rotation of the Moon.
C/365.25 days = 18.56 miles/day.
18.56/24 hours = 0.77 mph. 9.58 + 0.77 = 10.35 mph. You are correct.
What do the Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer mean to you?
Asks the person who flung the poo.
You missed.
The rotation of the moon around its axis is about fourteen feet per second.
Since the moon has no atmosphere that means if an astronaut jumped for one second the ground would move by fourteen feet beneath them.
That was of course confirmed by all of the NASA videos of Apollo astronauts on the moon.
Lol.
Hint: Somebody is lying.
Is it time to fling poo?
—
Asks the person who flung the poo.
—
Says the Flerther who uses clever slights-of-hand, deception, intellectual dishonesty and who demonstrates an abundance of scientific ignorance.
I’d prefer a battle of wits but you appear unarmed.
The rotation of the moon around its axis is about fourteen feet per second.
—
I have 15.18 feet per second. Check your abacus.
Since the moon has no atmosphere that means if an astronaut jumped for one second the ground would move by fourteen feet beneath them.
—
You forget that the astronaut is also moving with the Moon at 15.18 fps.
Why would the Moon having no atmosphere affect the astronaut’s jump?
What you have just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
According to scientists the only reason we humans are not affected by the Earth rotating about its axis at hundreds of miles per hour is because of the atmosphere.
If they are correct—and the Moon has no atmosphere—then the Moon would move (a lot!) beneath the feet of any astronaut who jumped for one second.
Do the research and confirm all of this for yourself.
You will be rewarded.
I can’t help you deal with your cognitive dissonance.
—
You have entered the Total Perspective Vortex (TPV).
When Zaphod was exposed to the Vortex, he was inside a computer-generated universe created for his protection by Zarniwoop. Since the entire universe was created for him, the TPV told him, in effect, that he was, in fact, the single most important person in the universe. This allowed Zaphod to survive the experience, and also did not surprise him in the least. Zaphod then proceeded to eat the fairy cake.
According to scientists the only reason we humans are not affected by the Earth rotating about its axis at hundreds of miles per hour is because of the atmosphere.
—
Cite please.
Earth’s atmosphere has very little to do with holding us on the surface. It has to do with the force of gravity and the fact that we are traveling at the same velocity as Earth’s rotation. A body at rest tends to stay at rest while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. It’s the law of inertia.
Earth’s rotation rate is ~1038 mph at the equator, or
Rotation Rate = 1038⋅cosθ, where θ is latitude in degrees.
Short answer from that website:
“The reason why is friction and air resistance”
When we jump above the Earth for a second gravity brings us down to Earth—according to scientists.
The atmosphere keeps us moving at the same rotational speed as the Earth—again according to scientists.
When we jump above the Moon for a second gravity brings us down to the Moon—according to scientists.
No atmosphere—like on the Moon—and the ground would move beneath us—again according to scientists.
You seem to think your ramblings are relevant.
You seem to think your ramblings are relevant.
—
If my responses are irrelevant to you, why do you continue to entertain me?
Captain America once said, “I can do this all day.”
I don't entertain you. I infuriate you. How dare I not conform!
Let’s ask Grok:
The Earth is spinning, so why don’t we jump and land on a different location?
Ans:
The Earth is spinning, but you don’t land in a different location when you jump because you, the air, and everything else on Earth are moving along with it at the same speed. The Earth rotates at about 1,000 miles per hour (1,600 km/h) at the equator, but since you’re already moving with the Earth, your momentum keeps you in sync. When you jump, you retain the same eastward velocity as the ground beneath you, so you land in roughly the same spot. The only slight displacement might come from minor effects like air resistance or the Coriolis effect (a subtle deflection due to Earth’s rotation), but these are negligible for short jumps. For example, if you jump for 1 second, the Earth moves about 0.28 miles (450 meters) eastward, but so do you, because you were already moving with it. This is why you don’t end up in a different city!
Thanks Grok. The Flat Earthers are asking stupid questions again.
Haha, no problem! The Earth’s spin is a classic one they love to poke at, but it’s just basic physics keeping us grounded—literally. If they’ve got more “stupid questions,” I’m ready to tackle ’em with you! Anything else they’re throwing out there?
I admit it—I am getting very dizzy:
—Rotating around the Earth’s axis at hundreds of miles per hour
—Rotating around the Sun at 67,000 miles an hour
—Rotating around the center of the Galaxy at 500,000 miles per hour
—Moving through the Universe at 1.3 million miles per hour
It is quite the ride!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.