Spacecraft Earth

A new CMI book guides earthlings on their prime mission

by David Coppedge and Gary Bates

How many of you are space travelers? Let’s ask another way. How many of you have a human body? That’s your spacesuit. How many of you live on a planet moving through space? That’s your spacecraft. Now try again: how many of you are space travelers? If you answered yes the second time, an exciting new book: Spacecraft Earth: A Guide for Passengers, explains the uniqueness of humans and our journey through space. An exciting book? Yes, not only because of the incredible and encouraging information it contains, but also because it’s written by a pioneer of NASA spacecraft, Dr. Henry Richter. He could be accurately described as one of the fathers of America’s space program.

We featured Dr. Richter in Creation Magazine in July 2015. Since then, he has published two books: the first, a historical account of his involvement in the early days of the spacecraft, America’s Leap into Space: My Time at JPL and the First Explorer Satellites.¹ In this book, Dr Richter shares unique information on the beginnings of space flight as only an insider can tell it. Proceeding from the viewpoints of the Germans, the Russians, the Americans, and then to his own experience in the heady pre-NASA days of 1955-1960, he makes the reader feel part of one of the most dramatic periods in human history—the day when earthlings broke the bonds of gravity. As the man responsible for the Explorer 1 (America’s first satellite), including its instruments and communication systems, Dr Richter is a living legend. And we are delighted that he is a biblical creationist and committed Christian. He also appeared in CMI’s new movie Alien Intrusion: Unmasking a Deception, sharing his insights into the enormous difficulties of interstellar travel.

Now in Spacecraft Earth: A Guide for Passengers, he helps us appreciate the unique spacecraft we all ride on, and in the process we learn about its prime mission. From his experience as a Caltech PhD and instructor, followed by his exciting career at the JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Dr Richter became more and more impressed with Planet Earth. The characteristics of the universe, the earth and life seemed too perfect to have come about by blind processes of evolution. Simultaneously, his own failings with his family and personal life gradually humbled him to realize he could not be a success through his own efforts. God had worked on his mind and heart so that when his wife Beverly invited him to consider Jesus Christ, he was ready. His life changed dramatically for the good.

Richter began sharing his story at groups, and at the suggestion of friends, wrote them into an earlier booklet that he self-published. After he met another JPL employee, David Coppedge (also featured in Creation Magazine, July 2015), the two thought about expanding and updating the book for a wider audience. David added many new facts from his experience as a board member for Illustra Media and from his news site, Creation-Evolution Headlines.² CMI realized the potential for the new book and agreed to publish it, improving it greatly with color illustrations and printing it on quality paper. Dr. Ross Anderson, professor of biochemistry at The Master’s University, says this about the book:

A great introductory book to creation

Spacecraft Earth is loaded with fascinating evidence for design that climaxes in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Along the way, the book renders Darwinian evolution, naturalistic origin of life and big-bang cosmology utterly powerless to explain the observations of science. Dr Richter shows how everything from the incredibly massive universe, to our star and planet, to animal and plant life, and all the way down to the atom— everything appears unified as part of a great master plan. Would not the Creator of all these wonders desire a relationship with the only beings capable of contemplating the meaning of existence? This is what makes the book so much more engaging than a collection of facts. It is Dr Richter’s own story, the path God led him on to put the pieces of earth’s prime mission together. For those of our readers wanting to share the gospel in a non-threatening way to friends and family members who value science, this book is ideal.

The book is now available in the CMI webStore. Consider buying in quantity at five copies for a discounted rate (over 30% in savings). We’re sure you and your friends will be astonished at the evidence for design, and will warm to ‘rocket scientist’ Dr Richter’s engaging account of how he found the answers to life’s biggest questions in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Dr Henry Richter, now 90 years old, lives with his wife Beverly in Escondido, California.