This is Mark and Rita's first-ever podcast interview! The Schrocks are fellow Christians and engineer specialists at NASA's Mission Control in Houston, Texas and share with us what working at Mission Control is like. We talk about everything from landing on the moon, to Space Shuttle missions and even what they think of aliens!

And of course, we talk about how we believe it all points to the glory of God. Human space exploration is good, but it isn't safe.

Mark is the chief design engineer behind the Space Shuttle's Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver which was first performed on STS-114, the first shuttle mission after the tragic loss of Columbia in February of 2003.

Twenty-one shuttle missions performed Mark's RPM.

Discovery: STS-114, STS-121, STS-116, STS-120, STS-124, STS-119, STS-128, STS-131, STS-133

Atlantis: STS-115, STS-117, STS-122, STS-129, STS-132, STS-135

Endeavor: STS-118, STS-123, STS-126,  STS-127, STS-130, STS-134.

Dan's full interview with Charlie Duke.

Sound clips from Mission Control: NASA/Johnson Space Center.

Reading of Psalm 19 at the beginning is Apollo 16 astronaut and CAPCOM of Apollo 11 Charlie Duke.

Thumbnail image: Mark and Rita Schrock. If you zoom in, you can find Rita standing center in a black shirt and khakis. Mark is standing directly left, to Rita's right. Astronauts at the International Space Station took the autographed picture of the Mission Control Visiting Vehicle Officer group to space and hung it on a window with Earth hanging silently in the background.

Podbean enables our podcast to be on Apple Podcasts and other major podcast platforms.  To support Good Heavens! on Podbean as a patron, you can use the Podbean app, or go to https://patron.podbean.com/goodheavens.  This goes to Wayne Spencer. If you would like to give to the ministry of Watchman Fellowship or to Daniel Ray, you can donate at https://www.watchman.org/daniel. Donations to Watchman are tax deductible.

How does a short passage in Mark chapter 2 point to Jesus as Lord and God? And what might Jesus' healing of the paralytic say about the nature of the universe and our place within it? Can we trust Mark's account as real history?

This is a short audio essay examines these questions in greater detail and hopefully provides us with some encouragement not to be discouraged in times when God seems silent.

Thumbnail photo credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI, A. Pagan (STScI)). This is Pismis 24, a small star cluster in the constellation Scorpius, the Scorpion. The "small" mountain peak is over five light years in height - with a single light year being close to 6 trillion miles. That is a rather tall peak.

The very One who came under our roof decorated this and all the other wondrous entities in the vaulted roof of the heavens. He who names and numbers all the stars also heals our broken hearts and binds up our wounds (Psalm 147).

Podbean enables our podcast to be on Apple Podcasts and other major podcast platforms.  To support Good Heavens! on Podbean as a patron, you can use the Podbean app, or go to https://patron.podbean.com/goodheavens.  This goes to Wayne Spencer. If you would like to give to the ministry of Watchman Fellowship or to Daniel Ray, you can donate at https://www.watchman.org/daniel. Donations to Watchman are tax deductible.

Atheists have often claimed that the Bible makes no scientific predictions and therefore cannot be a valid source of knowledge about the universe.

But this is simply unfounded. First, modern science as we understand it today did not exist thousands of years ago. To demand that our modern expectations should be imposed upon the text of Scripture is anachronistic eisegesis. It is our imposing our expectations and understanding into the texts of the Bible.

But second, Psalm 19, written by King David some 3,000 years ago, tells us that the heavens are continually pouring forth speech and knowledge, day after day and night after night.

Nowhere is this pouring forth more clearly demonstrated today than in the latest ground-based Simonyi Survey Telescope perched high atop the peak of El Peñón at an elevation of 8,799 feet. It is the main eye to the sky of the newly operational Vera C. Rubin Observatory in north central Chile.

This technological marvel pulls down 20 terabytes of data, every night! Ten times the storage capacity size of most new computer hard drives or smart phones. Over the course of its proposed ten-year survey of the southern hemisphere, astronomers hope to collect some 500 petabytes of data in total! One petabyte is 1,000 terabytes.

You can see more wonders and find out more about the telescope at the observatory's main website. https://rubinobservatory.org

The image on this month's thumbnail comes from the observatory website.

Wayne has written a companion article on the telescope and observatory. You can find that here. https://creationanswers.net/answersblog/2025/09/01/so-much-more-the-vera-rubin-telescope/

Other related links:

https://www.astronomy.com/science/first-ever-images-released-by-the-vera-c-rubin-observatory/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_mSAqw_DBY

Podbean enables our podcast to be on Apple Podcasts and other major podcast platforms.  To support Good Heavens! on Podbean as a patron, you can use the Podbean app, or go to https://patron.podbean.com/goodheavens.  This goes to Wayne Spencer. If you would like to give to the ministry of Watchman Fellowship or to Daniel Ray, you can donate at https://www.watchman.org/daniel. Donations to Watchman are tax deductible.

How does philosophy inform modern physics? And how do physicists incorporate philosophy into their research?

On this episode, we dive into those questions with philosopher Dr. Timothy McGrew and astrophysicist Dr. Luke Barnes in order to help you fine tune your thinking about the fine tuning of the universe.

Critics of the fine-tuning argument will often invoke probabilities in order to get around the argument's deeper implication of the existence of God.

Tim and Luke will explore some of the issues in probability theory as it informs the physics of the fine-tuning argument.

Dr. Timothy McGrew

Timothy McGrew is Professor of Philosophy at Western Michigan University, where he has taught for the past 25 years. His research interests include formal epistemology, the history and philosophy of science, and the history and philosophy of religion. When he is not doing philosophy, he enjoys playing chess online, coaching at his local chess club, running trails, and making high quality paper airplanes. He lives in SW Michigan with his wife, Lydia McGrew, and their daughters.

Dr. Luke Barnes.

Dr Luke A. Barnes is a Senior Lecturer in Physics at Western Sydney University. With a PhD in astronomy from the University of Cambridge, he has published papers in the field of galaxy formation and on the fine-tuning of the Universe for life. He is the coauthor with Prof. Geraint Lewis of A Fortunate Universe: Life in a Finely-Tuned Cosmos and The Cosmic Revolutionary's Handbook: (Or: How to Beat the Big Bang), published by Cambridge University Press.

Free Articles from Watchman Fellowship

Naturalism: https://www.watchman.org/Naturalism/ProfileNaturalism.pdf

Additional Resources

The brand new Vera Rubin Observatory recently opened its 28-foot diameter mirror and snapped a few stunning images that astronomers displayed to the public for the first time in June.

You can explore the amazing imagery of the heavens at the observatory's website at this site: 

Why so many stars? Why is the universe so immensely enormous, beyond our comprehension? What is the universe saying to us?

There would be no science of the heavens if the universe was not speaking to us. But what is it saying? And who are we among all these stars? Why are we here to see such wonders?

We here at Good Heavens! think it is all because God created us to be here, for such a time as this. He has numbered and named all the stars and knows our names too. And just like He did with stars, God has numbered all the hairs of our head, too, even though we might not be able to see every follicle ourselves.

The heavens and our human frames all are fearfully and wonderfully made and attest to God's glory.

We continue our conversation with author Seth Lewis about his lovely little book The Language of Rivers and Stars - How Nature Speaks of the Glories of God. Come and see!

For more about Seth, go to this site: 

To help Texas flood victims, see this site:

Podbean enables our podcast to be on Apple Podcasts and other major podcast platforms.  To support Good Heavens! on Podbean as a patron, you can use the Podbean app, or go to https://patron.podbean.com/goodheavens.  This goes to Wayne Spencer. If you would like to give to the ministry of Watchman Fellowship or to Daniel Ray, you can donate at https://www.watchman.org/daniel. Donations to Watchman are tax deductible.

Despite how secular most disciplines in the physical sciences are today, those who study nature assume that nature is intelligible and that it should be explored. But how does modern science actually explain what nature is saying to us? How do the explain that nature is intelligible to us at all? Is science the only way to understand the physical universe and everything it contains?

From silvery meandering rivers to the variegated heavenly canopy of stars above us, all creation is speaking to us, but in the words of the late Dr. Carl Sagan, "Who speaks for Earth?"

God does. And creation is His workmanship. He has revealed to us His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine glory, through what He has made. He has given us two books to know Him better, creation and the Bible. We should be diligent students of both.

On the next two episodes of Good Heavens this month, we speak with someone who has exegeted the physical creation with great care and attention. His name is Seth Lewis and he is the author of a brilliant little book The Language of Rivers and Stars - How Nature Speaks of the Glories of God.

Seth will share with us his insights and wisdom as to how he sees all of creation pointing us, drawing us, toward Christ.

You can find out more about Seth and his work on his website:

Here on part one we talk about how we can respond to God through creation and how we can sustain hope through the midst of the terrifying reality of natural disasters.

If you would like to donate something, no matter how small, to the flood relief efforts in South Central Texas, visit this website. (https://cftexashillcountry.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create/fund?funit_id=4201 ) Your donations will go directly to those in Kerr County and surrounding regions affected by the flood.

Podbean enables our podcast to be on Apple Podcasts and other major podcast platforms.  To support Good Heavens! on Podbean as a patron, you can use the Podbean app, or go to https://patron.podbean.com/goodheavens.  This goes to Wayne Spencer. If you would like to give to the ministry of Watchman Fellowship or to Daniel Ray, you can donate at https://www.watchman.org/daniel. Donations to Watchman are tax deductible.

The Bible tells us that we can see and understand "God's invisible attributes" through what He has created. And this is precisely what former atheist Michael Ray Lewis discovered as he spent three years examining the evidence for Christianity. One of the most impressive arguments he encountered during his time of searching was that of the fine tuning of the universe.

Jesus eventually got hold of Michael and not long thereafter his wife encouraged him to make a documentary about the evidence he had uncovered for Christianity.

Here on part two of our conversation with filmmaker Michael Ray Lewis, we'll hear the story of how the idea of the film, Universe Designed, became a reality.

For more info on the Universe Designed film, click here:

Podbean enables our podcast to be on Apple Podcasts and other major podcast platforms.  To support Good Heavens! on Podbean as a patron, you can use the Podbean app, or go to https://patron.podbean.com/goodheavens.  This goes to Wayne Spencer. If you would like to give to the ministry of Watchman Fellowship or to Daniel Ray, you can donate at https://www.watchman.org/daniel. Donations to Watchman are tax deductible.

This is why we produce Good Heavens! God's creation shows us His invisible attributes. He uses His creation to lead us to Christ, through whom and for whom the entirety of the heavens and earth were made (Colossians 1).

Universe Designed rivals anything produced by National Geographic or the Discovery Channel, without the naturalism of course, and is entirely Christ-centered. It is due to be released sometime toward the end of this year.

Here on part one, Michael shares with us his story about how God began a good work in his life.

For more about the film and how you can help get it into theaters, do visit the website at

Podbean enables our podcast to be on Apple Podcasts and other major podcast platforms.  To support Good Heavens! on Podbean as a patron, you can use the Podbean app, or go to https://patron.podbean.com/goodheavens.  This goes to Wayne Spencer. If you would like to give to the ministry of Watchman Fellowship or to Daniel Ray, you can donate at https://www.watchman.org/daniel. Donations to Watchman are tax deductible.

Neptune is the Roman name for the Greek god of the seas and of earthquakes. Poseidon, in Greek mythology, is the father of Polyphemus, the tyrannical, man-eating cyclopes of Homer's Odyssey. Because the Odysseus blinded Polyphemus, it was Poseidon and his wrath which ultimately made Odysseus' trip home a little more circuitous than was to the Big O's liking.

Thankfully, Poseidon and his offspring exist only in the long-gone minds and imaginations of Homer and the Greco-Roman world.

But there is a true King of king and Lord of lords, which even the wind, wave, continental plates and distant planets obey.

Who is this King of Glory? How do the heavens declare His glory? And what might the enigmas and mysteries of our solar system's most distant planet tell us about Him?

Come and see!

To see pictures comparing the actual colors of Uranus and Neptune see this article.

Music featured for the first 7 minutes of the broadcast comes from Gustav Holst, The Planets Op 32 Vii Neptune The Mystic https://youtu.be/cZt9oXP1OKc?si=d8ZYuTbYtSKuwXtN

CNN special episode of Voyager 2 arrival at Neptune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hwb-o5N9LBM

Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BqnN72OlqA

Sarah Salviander article

Wayne's blog article on 'Easter - Then and Now'

You don't hear much about Uranus these days. Probably because it's 1.8 billion miles away, or maybe because the last time an Earth-launched satellite probe visited the enigmatic ringed world was in 1986. A few years ago the James Webb Space Telescope took the beauteous portrait of Uranus you see in the thumbnail, but for the most part, most folks don't think much about the quirky planet that orbits the sun whilst rolling on its side.

Hopefully, this episode will at least make you think about Uranus as a work of art, the "handiwork" of God (Psalm 8 and 19), which silently declares His glory.

The background music you hear in the introduction is from Gustav Holst's - The Planets, Op. 32 - VI. Uranus, the Magician [Copyright Free].

Uranus press conference original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAEUvts2F6g

Book on Uranus and Neptune (not Christian): https://a.co/d/8QlE8ur

Also, this is Wayne's blog with an article on Easter and Jesus' resurrection:

Podbean enables our podcast to be on Apple Podcasts and other major podcast platforms.  To support Good Heavens! on Podbean as a patron, you can use the Podbean app, or go to https://patron.podbean.com/goodheavens.  This goes to Wayne Spencer. If you would like to give to the ministry of Watchman Fellowship or to Daniel Ray, you can donate at https://www.watchman.org/daniel. Donations to Watchman are tax deductible.