One of the NASA astronauts who recently returned to Earth after being stuck at the International Space Station for more than nine months said earlier this week that remotely attending church services sustained him spiritually while lingering in orbit.
Barry “Butch” Wilmore said during a Monday press conference in Houston with fellow astronaut Suni Williams that maintaining virtual fellowship with Providence Baptist Church — his home church in Pasadena, Texas — was “vital” while their originally planned eight-day trip to the ISS dragged out for 286 days amid technical issues.
Wilmore, an elder at the church he has attended with his family for 17 years, led devotionals and joined fellow astronauts in singing “Amazing Grace,” he told CBN in a recent interview.
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Astronaut Butch Wilmore says that watching church services every week while he was stuck in space for 9 months is what sustained him. He said, “The Word of God continually infilling me—I need it.” He’s absolutely right, and we all need it! Watch… pic.twitter.com/EJPQ2P6wAt
— Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) April 2, 2025
During the Monday press briefing, he said he also streamed services from Grace Baptist Church in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, where one of his friends is a pastor and elder.
“The Word of God continually infilling me, I need it,” Wilmore said when asked why attending services from space was important to him. “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.”
Noting how people’s lives are “bound up in many things,” Wilmore said, “For me, it’s faith in my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He is the end-all, be-all. He forgives us.”
“He teaches us when He says in His Word about being content in all situations because He’s working out His plan and His purposes for His glory and our good, and I believe that because the Bible says that.”
“It doesn’t mean always happy, it doesn’t mean there’s no pain, but content and knowing that God’s in control; a sovereign God’s in control, working out His plan and His purpose,” Wilmore added regarding contentment.
“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?”
Pastor Tommy Dohn at Providence Baptist Church said Wilmore’s home congregation was excited to see him when he returned in person, according to KPRC.
“There was a bit of excitement after he came, but he doesn’t want to be the focus,” Dohn said. “Although we are all kind of starstruck.”
With the help of the SpaceX Dragon capsule, the astronauts returned from the ISS on March 18.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has claimed the Biden administration declined his offer to help retrieve the crew to avoid giving the outspoken Trump supporter an optics victory during election season.
During the press conference upon their return, Wilmore was diplomatic when asked if he ever felt stuck, stranded or marooned.
“Any of those adjectives, they’re very broad in their definition,” Wilmore said.
“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 previously said that what Musk said “is absolutely factual,” though he noted he was unaware of the particulars of any closed-door meetings regarding their ordeal.
Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to jon.brown@christianpost.com
