An Astronaut’s Prayer of Thanksgiving
Several years ago, our good friend Pat Wilhelm gave us a book about Thanksgiving, one of the only books about Thanksgiving for adults that I have ever seen. Thanksgiving: Feast and Festival was compiled by Mildred Corell Luckhardt and was published in 1966. Near the end is an entry entitled “A Spaceman’s Prayer.” For this day that Americans have set aside to be grateful, I have decided to share with you a prayer of one American. He spoke his prayer not on Thanksgiving Day, but in May. He spoke it not in 1621, but in 1963. He spoke it not on earth, but in space.
L. Gordon “Gordo” Cooper Jr. was an astronaut with Project Mercury, the first NASA program that sent people into space. On May 15, 1963, Cooper climbed into the Faith 7 Mercury spacecraft. His flight lasted for one day, ten hours, nineteen minutes, and forty-nine seconds.
Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr. was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma. He grew up in Shawnee and in Murray, Kentucky. He began active duty in the Air Force in 1949, eventually rising to the rank of Colonel. Cooper became a Mercury astronaut in 1959.
Scott Carpenter, L. Gordon Cooper Jr., John Glenn,
Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Sheperd, and Deke Slayton
Image Credit: NASA
On May 15 and 16, 1963, Cooper piloted Faith 7 as it made twenty-two orbits around the world. Six years later, he completed a 120-orbit mission as part of the Gemini program, becoming the first American to orbit the earth on a second mission.
Image Credit: NASA
During Cooper’s first flight in 1963, he spoke a prayer into a tape recorder while crossing over the South Pacific. These are the words he spoke:
I would like to take this time to say a little prayer for all the people, including myself, involved in this launch and this operation.
“Father, thank You for the success we have had flying this flight. Thank You for the privilege of being able to be in this position, to be up in this wondrous place, seeing all these many startling, wondrous things that You’ve created. Help guide and direct all of us, that we may shape our lives to be good, that we may be much better Christians, learn to help one another, to work with one another, rather than to fight. Help us to complete this mission successfully. Help us in our future space endeavors, that we may show the world that a democracy really can compete, and still are able to do things in a big way, are able to do research, development, and can conduct various scientific, very technical programs in a completely peaceful environment. Be with all our families. Give them guidance and encouragement, and let them know that everything will be okay. We ask in Thy name. Amen.”
Happy Thanksgiving, dear homeschooling mothers!
O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth,
Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!
Psalm 8:1, NASB