Meet Owolabi Salis: The First Nigerian in Space—Wearing Diapers, Holding Alligator Pepper and Bitter Kola

Meet Owolabi Salis: The First Nigerian in Space—Wearing Diapers, Holding Alligator Pepper and Bitter Kola
On June 29, 2025, history was made when Owolabi Salis, a United States-based Nigerian lawyer, became the first Nigerian to travel to space. As one of the six passengers aboard Blue Origin’s NS-33 mission, Salis launched from West Texas and completed a journey he describes not just as historic, but deeply spiritual.

A Pilgrimage Beyond Earth
Salis, who has traveled to over 100 countries—including the North Pole, South Pole, and Greenland—views space travel as the ultimate pilgrimage. “I wasn’t scared; I saw it as a spiritual journey,” he said during an interview on TVC’s Your View. To him, pilgrimage isn’t limited to sacred sites on Earth. It includes exploring the creation of the universe itself.

“The more you travel, the more you understand the Lord’s creation, and the stronger your spiritual standing becomes,” he explained.

Prepared With Diapers and Ancestral Symbols
Before lift-off, Salis and the crew underwent intensive training in Astronaut Village, Texas. Launch delays on June 21 and 22 due to wind conditions pushed the mission to June 29. Before boarding, participants were asked to use the restroom for the final time and wear diapers—since there are no toilet facilities onboard.

But Salis also brought personal items of cultural significance. “I took alligator pepper and bitter kola with me. In our culture, these are symbols of seriousness, focus, and spiritual grounding.”

In Orbit: A Divine Encounter
As the capsule reached suborbital space, Salis recounted a deeply spiritual moment. “You see the Earth shrink into a floating ball. It feels like your soul is leaving your body. Everything begins to float—even your seatbelt.”

In that zero-gravity environment, he spent the moment praying—for himself, his family, and world peace. He reflected on what he called the “Soulmaker Ministry”, a spiritual belief system centered on the idea that a supreme being gives every human their soul at conception.

“The Lord of the Universe is different from all known gods”
Salis challenged conventional religious ideas during the interview. “The Lord of the Universe is not the God in the Bible, not the Allah in the Quran, not Oduduwa, Shiva, or Zeus.

This being is unseen and will never be seen.”

He emphasized that this conclusion came from deep spiritual encounters during his earthly and space travels. According to him, the source of life—the soul—is divine, pure, and directly connected to this unseen Lord.

While his story might sound surreal to many, Owolabi Salis believes he was destined to make this journey—not for science alone, but for spiritual enlightenment.

For him, space was not a destination but a sacred realm. “I went there to say hello to the Almighty—‘I am here. You can see me, though I can’t see you.’”