Beeeep, beeeep, beeeep.” The date was October 4, 1957, the birth of the space age. The Soviet Union had successfully launched Sputnik 1, the world’s first artificial satellite. About the size of a beach ball and weighing 183 pounds, it orbited Earth in 98 minutes.
For thousands of years, humankind has observed the sun, moon, and planets, but not until the middle of the twentieth century did it become possible to investigate any of them “on-site.” Science-fiction magazines and movies had imagined trips to these places, but Sputnik made actual travel into space outside of Earth’s atmosphere a real possibility. After Sputnik, the next question was who would be first to set foot on the moon.
The Cold War pitted the United States against the Soviet Union in a struggle to win the space race. During the early years, the Soviets scored a number of “firsts.” After Sputnik, a Soviet Air Force officer, Yuri Gagarin, became the first man to orbit Earth on April 12, 1961. Then, on June 16, 1963, Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to travel in space, and on March 18, 1965, Alexi Leonov performed the first space walk.
Americans followed, always a step behind, it seemed, with Marine John H. Glenn orbiting the earth three times on February 20, 1962. It was not until 1983 that Sally Ride became the first American woman in space.
Despite those Soviet “firsts,” the US won the race to put humans on the moon. Apollo 11 landed on June 20, 1969, and Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. stepped out of their frail craft onto the lunar surface. During the next three years, 10 other US astronauts walked and drove across the lunar landscape.
Mechanical and electronic spacecraft without a human crew have also given scientists great insight into the planets in our solar system. In 1977, the US launched Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, each equipped with powerful cameras. Their flybys of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune sent back remarkable photos. In 2006, Voyager 1 became the first human-made object to reach outer space beyond the solar system. It entered the final frontier, where the sun’s influence ends. If Voyager 1 were traveling in the direction of our closest neighboring star, it would take 75,000 years to get there!
In 1981, the US launched Columbia, the first of several space shuttles. These vehicles take off like a rocket and land like an airplane. During the following 25 years, we followed the triumphs and the tragedies of those shuttles.
The Soviet Union achieved another first in 1986 when it put into orbit a permanent space station christened Mir. The Cold War ended with the break-up of the Soviet Union, and then the United States, Russia, and other nations combined their efforts to assemble an International Space Station.
Another step forward has been space-based astronomical observatories, which permit astronomers to see distant stars and galaxies from above the distorting effects of Earth’s atmosphere. The Hubble Space Telescope was put into orbit on April 24, 1990, by the US space shuttle Discovery, and in 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope was launched. The photos sent back have vastly increased our knowledge of the deep universe.
Over the next 10 years, a series of sophisticated US probes were sent to various planets: Magellan went to Venus in 1991, Galileo to Jupiter in 1993, and Cassini to Saturn in 1997.
Nearly 70 years have passed since Sputnik catapulted humanity into the space age, but much is still unknown about the vast universe beyond. Scientists in Europe, Japan, and China all seek to make contributions to space exploration, but none have yet been able to answer the question of whether intelligent beings—or life in any form—exist beyond our solar system.
In recent years, some scientists began using the term fourth dimension, which was first brought to light in the classic 1884 novel Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, by Edwin A. Abbott. In plane and solid geometry, we learn about three dimensions—width, length, and depth—but imagining a fourth dimension leads us to the unseen and unexplainable. We often refer to events outside of our realm of understanding as supernatural. To the humanist, the origin of the earth and of life on it are a mystery. But for the Bible-believing Christian, it is understood that our Creator God spoke everything into existence. It is through faith in this supernatural dimension that something so “incomprehensible” becomes believable.
So what does the Bible tell us about that fourth dimension, the supernatural? Quite a lot, as it turns out:
According to the Bible, there are three “heavens” (2 Corinthians 12:2). The first is the earth’s atmosphere, where the birds fly (see Genesis 1:20). The second heaven is outer space, where the planets and stars reside (see Genesis 1:14–16). The third heaven is Paradise, the dwelling place of God (see Revelation 2:7; Luke 23:43).
The wise man King Solomon dedicated his temple in Jerusalem with these words: “LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below.” “Hear from heaven, your dwelling place” (1 Kings 8:23, 30).
Moses, the first Bible writer, made it clear that God created the planet Earth and everything in it, including intelligent human beings. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” and when everything else had been created, He said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness” (Genesis 1:1, 26).
The Creator-God communicated with Adam, telling him what to eat and what not to eat (see Genesis 1:29; 2:16, 17) and rebuking him when he disobeyed (Genesis 3:9–13). Through the centuries, God spoke to Adam’s descendants through prophets (see Amos 3:7).
God descended on Mount Sinai and, with a loud voice, spoke the Ten Commandments—the rules of conduct for His people (Exodus 20:1–17).
Both Old and New Testament writers inform us of the ministry of angels—supernatural, created beings who serve as representatives or messengers of God. An incident in the life of the patriarch Jacob illustrated the link between heaven and Earth. “He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it” (Genesis 28:12).
The prophet Daniel tells us about a remarkable space flight of the angel Gabriel. When Daniel started to pray, God commissioned the angel to give the prophet “insight and understanding” (Daniel 9:21, 22). In just minutes, he flew the vast distance from heaven, God’s dwelling place, to the prophet’s side.
The greatest point of contact between heaven and Earth is the miracle of Christ’s incarnation. “When the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman” (Galatians 4:4). Jesus’ sinless life, marvelous teachings, sacrificial death, and triumphal resurrection made that salvation available to you and me.
Before returning to His Father, Jesus promised to come again. “Do not let your hearts be troubled,” He said. “I am going . . . to prepare a place for you. . . . I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:1–3).
Now that’s the space flight that I want to take! And I’m preparing for it right now.
Robert Wearner writes from Collegedale, Tennessee.
