A moon rock is embedded in this stained glass Washington Cathedral Window

Though NASA administrators Thomas Paine and James Fletcher both died within months of one another, the men shared a living experience in 1974, the fifth anniversary of the Eagle’s landing on the Moon. The occasion was a church service in America’s National Cathedral in the nation’s capital. To commemorate the July 20, 1969 lunar landing, a Moon rock would be set in a stained glass window of the Church. Accompanying Paine and Fletcher were the Eagle’s crew, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, along with the Columbia’s pilot Mike Collins. The five NASA representatives sat in a front pew. A NASA photographer poised to capture the event for posterity. The message that day related these words from Luke 1:78-79:

Through a circumstance that only God could ordain, the Sun’s light entered an overhead window at the moment the photographer snapped the photo below. A cross of light appeared on the film. At the foot of the cross, were the first man on the Moon, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin.

It is evident that God’s grace shown on America in placing the first men on the Moon. HE IS, INDEED, THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD!