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More Than an Ark on Ararat: Spiritual Lessons Learned While Searching for Noah's Ark

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James B. Irwin (1930-1991) was an American astronaut who served as Lunar Module pilot for Apollo 15, and was the eighth person to walk on the Moon. He was also famous (infamous?) for his search for Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat in Turkey, later in his life.

This brief book isn't so much about the "Search for Noah's Ark," per se (Irwin was unsuccessful in this quest, of course), but about the "spiritual lessons" Irwin learned during his search.

He wrote in the Preface to this 1985 book, "I've been interested in Noah's ark since I was a young lad in Sunday School. The journey to the moon opened up new doors... I thought it would be interesting to look for the ark, so I told (ark researcher Eyrl) Cummings that if he needed anyone to carry his bags or keep him company, I'd love to go with him... Cummings called me in 1982 and asked me to be the leader of an expedition to find the ark... We accepted (the Turkish president's) invitation and searched on the north slope from the Kop plain east to the Ahora gorge. This book is a result of that expedition."

Here are some quotations from the book:

"Therefore, this book, though it does use our expedition as the cohesive thread throughout, takes a new direction. It tells what we did discover on the mountain, even though we didn't discover the ark. We found something far more important." (Pg. 13)
"But we didn't find a shred of evidence of the ark, not a trace. So what was the trip all about? Surely God had SOMETHING in mind for fourteen of His dedicated children who had intested time, energy, and money in this adventure." (Pg. 15)
"The reason for our expedition was to bring back scientific proof of the existence of the ark. We found none." (Pg. 38)
"I must have been struck from behind by a falling rock. The next thing I knew I was at the bottom of the snowfield in a pile of sharp rocks, and I was a bloody mess... I tried to stand, but was too weak from the loss of blood that my legs simply wouldn't support me." (Pg. 63)
"I was eventually taken by ambulance and helicopter to a large military hospital in Ezurum, was given excellent medical care, and was able to rest for five days before going home." (Pg. 86)
"So the fall down the mountain gave me an opportunity to speak for Christ from my hospital bed, which is my job as an ambassador for Him." (Pg. 87)
"What if we had found the Ark? True, it would have been a marvelous archaeological find, perhaps the most important in history. But would it have changed man or man's view of God and of the Bible? The answer is, of course, purely speculative." (Pg. 93)