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Steve Green, the well-known Christian singer and recording artist, was supposed to perform at Colonial Baptist Church in Cary, North Carolina, on February 1, but something happened that Saturday morning that altered his concert plans.

At about 9 A.M. Eastern Time, Green's good friend Rick Husband, the commander of the space shuttle Columbia, and six fellow astronauts perished when their vehicle disintegrated over Texas, 16 minutes before it was scheduled to land.

Husband, 45, and Columbia's payload commander Michael Anderson, 43, were members of Grace Community Church, an interdenominational charismatic church in the Houston area.

"I knew that it wouldn't be the concert I had planned," Green told Christian Reader four days after the tragedy. "I knew it would be different. It became a concert dedicated to Rick. All of a sudden someone I had a friendship with had been taken in an extraordinary and very difficult way. The entire nation was not only focused, but consumed with the tragedy."

Green, 46, who met Husband during one of his concerts just months before the astronaut's first shuttle mission in May 1999, says the concert became "a time of reflection, mourning, reevaluation, quietness, and worship."

"I shared some things that night which I never thought I'd share publicly—things about Rick that have impacted my life," says Green, who was invited to sing by Husband at a reception for him before his 1999 and 2003 missions. "It wasn't just a memorial for Rick. It was lessons that I had learned from Rick's life and ways that he had challenged and pointed me towards Christ."

Green, who attended the memorial service at the Johnson Space Center in Houston for the astronauts, says Husband "very naturally but without hesitation gave a witness of his love for and faith in Christ."

"The team and crew he had command over was made up of people of different beliefs and backgrounds, and yet he did not hesitate to, in a very natural way, express his faith," Green explains.

He continues, "I was told by his spacesuit technician that right after they helped Rick put on his spacesuit and all the other astronauts were ready, they walked down a long hallway. But before they reached the media area, Rick stopped and prayed for each of his crew members. The technician said in all of his years at NASA, he had never seen a commander pray for his crew."

During Columbia's launch on January 16, which Green attended, he says he heard communications between Mission Control in Houston and Husband, which also told of Husband's bold, yet unassuming faith.

"It was T-minus one, or two minutes before takeoff, and someone from Mission Control made a comment about the launch being on a spectacular day," recalls Green, whose stories about Husband were chronicled in widely circulated e-mails by Christians who attended his February 1 concert.

"Rick's immediate response was, 'The Lord has given us a perfect day,'" Green adds. "What a simple and profound acknowledgement that nothing is by accident. … The thing about Rick is he could say those things. He wasn't despised for them because of the gentleness and genuineness of his life. People around him knew he loved them and cared for them. It was just part and parcel of Rick."

During his February 1 concert, Green showed a video of Husband's life, which was put together by the astronaut's wife, Evelyn. The video featured "God of Wonders," a song included on Green's latest album, Woven in Time.

He continues, "In an e-mail he sent to me from space, Rick said that as he looked out the window while listening to that song, he was overwhelmed that God created such a huge and beautiful universe, but that he still shows regard and love for each one of us. Rick told me that brought tears to his eyes."

Husband often remarked that being a husband and father were his most important jobs in this world. Green says after the tragedy, Evelyn told him that despite his busy life as an astronaut, her husband took the time to create 17 individual daily-devotional videos for their two children to watch during Columbia's 16-day mission.

"He understood that one of his primary responsibilities in life was to disciple his own children," says Green, his voice filling with heaviness. "His absence leaves a void. As quiet and unassuming as he was when he talked to his fellow astronauts, his life made a powerful impact with those around him—with me especially."

A Christian Reader original article. Eric Tiansay is a writer and editor for Strang Communications in Lake Mary, Florida.

Copyright © 2003 by the author or Christianity Today International/Today's Christian magazine (formerly Christian Reader).
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