US astronaut speaks from space of the beauty of God's creation

A Christian astronaut has described the humbling experience of witnessing at first hand in space "the amazing creative work of God".

US astronaut Jeff Williams, commander of the International Space Station's Expedition 48, spoke to Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, through a NASA link.

Last month Williams, who listens to Mohler's Briefing podcast while in orbit, broke the record of 520 days for the amount of time an American has spent in space.

The astronaut takes astonishing pictures and regularly tweets them from the station.

The 15-minute interview took place during the latest regular Sunday chapel service at the seminary, when the space station was heading from a position above the US towards the Atlantic.

Williams told Mohler: "When I look out the window and I see this, all of the elements are what you would imagine you would see with a creative work by an infinite God. You see the design, you see the beauty, you see the purpose, you see all of those elements, you see order in all the details."

The astronaut, on his fourth space flight, continued: "It's one thing to be inside here, look out the window, and view the elements of God's creation in deep space as well as the planet.

"It's quite another thing to go outside, and now you have set yourself inside this suit that is sustaining your life and you can see through that full-faced visor not only the vastness and the majesty of the globe itself but deep out into space. It just deepens a comprehension, the observation of what we know through Scripture about the amazing creative work of God. It's an incredibly humbling experience."

Now a grandfather of four, he admitted he missed his wife, Anna-Marie.

"Family is what I miss the most. That's centred around relationships, our closest relationships, and as believers we understand how central relationship is to the human experience."

He ended the interview with a zero-gravity backflip.