By Richard Tew
The Post Newspaper Contributing Writer/Faithful Columnist
Born in Taipei, Taiwan into a military family, NASA Astronaut Dr. Kjell Lindgren says service, science and faith have played an integral role in his life. He says it is God’s providence which has helped steer him through ups and downs along his path towards success. .
Entering the United States Air Force Academy out of high school, Lindgren’s plans were to become a pilot and ultimately an astronaut one day.
While training to become a pilot, asthma was discovered during medical tests. After six months of retests, his plans of becoming a pilot were shuttered. Ultimately, it would lead to him being discharged from the Air Force.
“That was the obliteration of a dream, the obliteration of a path that I had been on for over a decade,” said Lindgren. “That was a very challenging time and one of the most difficult occurrences of my career.”
Lindgren says it was during that time, the support of family, friends and his faith helped him navigate the uncertainty of the situation, but also helped plot his future successes. He says ultimately, he decided to apply for medical school and pursue a career in medicine.
“To me, that represented a challenge and also a way to serve the community and it was a good fit,” said Lindgren.
This path to becoming a doctor led Lindgren to emergency medicine and then to aerospace medicine. Receiving his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Colorado, Lindgren says it also led to the chance to apply to the astronaut program at NASA and join the astronaut corps. During the process, Lindgren was again tested for asthma and was ultimately cleared.
“That really opened up the door to have this opportunity to apply and not to live and work as an astronaut,” said Lindgren.
Lindgren says the gift of perspective has helped square the loss of one career path with the blessing of another.
“And so seeing how God works in amazing ways, I’m so grateful for that and to have that perspective, and understand that when we have challenging days, that God is glorified in some way in those trials and in that tribulation,” said Lindgren. “So getting to experience and see back in my own life and trying to be an encouragement to others that are experiencing that.”
Since becoming an astronaut, Lindgren has flown two missions and says each time, he brings a Bible to study and help him reflect. On his first mission, he brought Bibles for his children and inscribed person notes for each of them while on the ISS. He spends some of his time off while aboard the International Space Station reading scripture with his wife and children back on earth. He also credits his friend Scott Taylor, who Lindgren knew from the Air Force parachute team, with helping him establish a consistent prayer life while on his missions by sending daily devotionals through email each day.
“The discipline of sending that (devotionals) every day with me in my first mission and he did it with me again in my second mission,” said Lindgren. “It really kind of formed the foundation of my meditative and prayer life during the mission.”
Lindgren says the view from 240 miles above earth is awe-inspiring and reminds him of how dynamic the planet is but also how fragile it can be.
“I felt very connected with the earth and recognized it as an amazing place,” said Lindgren. “The earth is truly indescribable. The blues, the greens, the whites and browns of the earth just sit against the empty void of space and to recognize that is where everybody that has ever lived. The entirety of humanity is back on the earth and that it was created for us.”
Lindgren notes his favorite verse of scripture is Psalm 121. He says his wife sent him the verse through email before he had to perform spacewalks, and notes its relevance to the important and risky nature of being an astronaut.
“I had a print out on my check list and it was a reminder of God’s sovereignty over our daily lives,” said Lindgren.
“We are in a hazardous environment and there are a lot of expectations,” said Lindgren. “Understanding as we go through the procedures of all the dynamics of flight: the preparation, the travel that’s involved, launch and landings, the space walks. Just recognizing we are just under God’s umbrella, under His protection. That He has a plan for our lives and even during that mission, things are going to be amplified for His kingdom.
Recalling his first flight to orbit, Lindgren said there was a profound recollection of the path he had to travel to realize his life-long dream.
“I think the greatest gift was really the opportunity to look back at my life and see that day where I and been kicked out of the Air Force, a day I would describe as one of the darkest days of my life; almost a curse, and to recognize it as a blessing,” said Lindgren “So, what I thought was one of my worst days, in retrospect one of my best days because I can tell you with almost 100 percent certainty, had I not been kicked out of the Air Force, I would not be where I am today. I would not have this opportunity.”
Photo Cutline: NASA Astronaut Dr. Kjell Lindgren. Photo by NASA.
