252,726 miles from home, Victor Glover made sure his faith and family were always close by.
In his first public remarks since the Artemis II returned safely to Earth after a 10-day mission, going further than any human being ever had in space with its lunar fly-by mission, Glover stated emphatically that he loved everyone who was associated with the project, namely the families of his fellow astronauts who supported them through every step.
The loudest message was for his family.
“When this started, I wanted to thank God in public, and I want to thank God again, because even bigger than my challenge trying to describe what we went through, the gratitude of seeing what we saw, doing what we did, and being with who I was with, it’s too big to just be in one body,” Glover said.
“And I wanted to thank our families for everything,” he added. “I love you, but not just those five beautiful cocoa-skinned ladies right there… All of you.”
Who is Victor Glover’s family?
Those “five beautiful cocoa-skinned ladies” Glover referenced were his wife of more than two decades, Dionna Glover and his four daughters, Genesis, Maya, Joia, and Corinne. The Glovers have been married for two decades, and when Dionna discovered that her husband had been accepted into NASA’s astronaut corps, she immediately began to think about what was best for their family: a life in Washington, D.C., or relocating to Houston, where NASA and the Johnson Space Center are.
Dionna and the girls have made the move to pack up and support Victor whenever the job calls, from his time in Japan as a fighter pilot in the U.S. Navy to now, when his focus is on space. Even with the movement, Dionna helped ensure their family of five was taken care of, as her background in early childhood development helped her as a stay-at-home parent to her and Victor’s daughters.
During check-in on April 6, NASA surprised Victor by revealing his wife and one of his daughters were watching him on a livestream.
“I love ya, from the moon.” Victor Glover told his wife and the romantic gesture lit up Mission Control.
Back home in Texas, Glover was given a hero’s welcome with the entire neighborhood coming out to congratulate him and celebrate his massive accomplishment. But one of his first social media posts since touching down?
A photo with him, Dionna and his girls.
“Home, again! Mission complete,” Glover wrote on X on Sunday (Apr. 12). “I hope we glorified God, humanity, our families and our terrific teams a @NASA and @csa_asc. Time to share the good news!”
