NASA astronaut rescued from ISS says virtual church fellowship sustained him: ‘Vital’
April 3, 2025
A recently returned astronaut who was stranded for 9 months aboard the International Space Station (ISS), says being able to remotely attend church services sustained him during the ordeal.
The Christian Post reports that Barry “Butch” Wilmore’s trip to the ISS was intended to be only 8 days but instead dragged on for 286 days because of technical issues.
Wilmore and fellow astronaut Suni Williams held a press conference in Houston earlier this week in which Wilmore described how maintaining virtual fellowship with his home church in Pasadena, Texas was a “vital” part of getting through being stranded.
Wilmore said he also streamed services from Grace Baptist Church in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, where one of his friends is a pastor.
When asked why participating in church services while in space was important to him, Wilmore said, “The Word of God continually infilling me, I need it. My pastors are the finest pastors on — or off, in this case — the planet. And to tie in and to worship with my church family was vital. I mean, it’s part of what makes me go.”
The astronaut spoke of his faith helping him to be content in all circumstances, saying, “Who’s lived a life without pain? I mean, no one. That’s the nature of existence. Who’s lived a life without sorrow? Who’s lived a life without challenges? It grows us, we learn from it, and that’s the focus that I try to take from it: What’s the Lord trying to show me?”
According to the Christian Post, Wilmore was diplomatic when asked if he felt stuck, stranded or marooned, explaining, “Any of those adjectives, they’re very broad in their definition. So in certain respects, we were stuck, in certain respects, maybe we were stranded, but based on how they were couching this, that we were left and forgotten in orbit, we were nowhere near any of that at all.”
While in orbit, Wilmore earlier had confirmed claims by SpaceX founder Elon Musk that the Biden administration had declined his offer to help bring the astronauts home.
The astronauts were retrieved from the ISS on March 18 with the help of the SpaceX Dragon capsule.
Photo: top, Credit: YouTube/ABC News