When I was a sophomore in high school, I had the privilege of getting to meet one of the astronauts who had walked on the moon. Astronaut James B. Irwin, member of the Apollo 15 crew, became the 8th man to walk on the moon in 1971. In the fall of 1977, Astronaut Irwin was kind enough to give me about an hour of his time for some one-on-one time to ask him any question I wanted. Because of all his aviation and spaceflight credentials and experiences, I thought he was almost some kind of god.

He went on to write a book about his life and moonwalk and conversion to Christianity because of his walk on the moon. In his book called "To Rule The Night" he mentions something he told me about that day. He said while on the moon, he turned around several times fully expecting to see God holding the moon up to His face and watching their moonwalk. His experiences on the moon so moved him that he converted to Christianity not long after his mission. Irwin went on to found the Christian Organization "High Flight."

Sadly, Astronaut Irwin died of heart problems in 1991. Interestingly, his heart problems were first noticed during his last moonwalk on the Apollo 15 mission.