By Shawn Smith
What was supposed to be an eight-day mission aboard the Boeing Starliner for veteran astronaut Butch Wilmore and crew mate Suni Williams turned into a nine-month ordeal when the spacecraft’s thrusters malfunctioned.
Wilmore shared how he believes God had a hand in the experience with his extended stay on the International Space Station until their return to Earth in March of 2025 on the SpaceX Dragon capsule.
“Yes, we were stuck by certain definitions,” the astronaut told Fox News anchor Shannon Bream on her “Livin’ the Bream” podcast. “Yes, we were not able to leave at a time we wanted to leave, but we were placed there. We were put there in that position by our Lord according to His plan and His purposes.”
Related: U.S. Astronaut Says His Time in Space ‘Magnifies My Lord’
The former Navy test pilot related the extended time on the ISS to times in our lives where we feel we are at a standstill.
“[P]eople feel stuck in all aspects of various aspects of their lives. And if you understand a biblical worldview, and I wish I could pour this into people, I wish I could have them see it, but it’s really, truly…faith,” Wilmore said. “You step out in faith, and you have faith in the Lord that you know the Bible itself.”
Wilmore quoted Philippians 4:6-7, which reads: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”
“[W]hen it says that, you can believe it even in the difficult struggles of life, and in that moment…the word is true,” he continued. “It’s absolutely true, and that’s really what’s my focus is, whatever happens the Lord is in control of this and according to His plan and His purpose, for His glory.”
With more than 8,000 hours of flight time and 663 carrier landings in the Navy, as well as two previous spaceflights before joining the first manned Boeing Starliner mission, he was trained to overcome anxiety.
“[T]he Lord placed me in positions of pressure and combat and other things, flying off aircraft carriers and that. And I’ve learned through experience that in the moment, those type of moments, fear is not your ally…” the Tennessee native said. “In flying, we compartmentalize, we put everything aside, and we focus, focus, focus on the mission at hand, and in those moments the mission was, maintain control, and that’s what the focus was.”
Wilmore is not the only astronaut to speak boldly of his faith recently. Victor Glover, pilot of the Artemis II mission which made history as the farthest manned mission from Earth, shared previously “we need Jesus — whether here on earth or orbiting the moon.”
“When I read the Bible and I look at all of the amazing things that were done for us, who were created, you have this amazing place, this spaceship,” Glover said in an Easter message. “You guys are talking to us because we’re in a spaceship really far from Earth. But you’re on a spaceship called Earth that was created to give us a place to live in the universe, in the cosmos.”
Commander of the Artemis mission Reid Wiseman shared that the experience left him “in tears” upon returning to Earth.
“I’m not really a religious person, but there was just no other avenue for me to explain anything or to experience anything. So I asked for the chaplain on the Navy ship to just come visit us for a minute. And when that man walked in, I’d never met him before in my life, but I saw the cross on his collar, and I broke down in tears,” Wiseman said in a press conference.
Wilmore, who officially retired from the NASA program last August, said he has “too much energy” to completely retire and is a public speaker and shared about his journey in his book Stuck in Space: An Astronaut’s Hope Through the Unexpected.
Read Next: Artemis II Pilot Took Us to Church on Sunday
Questions or comments? Please write to us here.
– Content: +2Share:
– Content: +1