By Nile Hosni –
When CBS asked Astronaut Butch Wilmore about being stranded in the Space Station for nine months, he started talking about God.
“My feeling on all of this goes back to my faith. It’s bound in my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,” Butch said. “He is working out his plans and his purposes for his glory throughout all of humanity. And how that plays into our lives is significant and important. And however that plays out and I am content.
“I understand that he’s at work, in all things,” he added. “Some things are for the good, go to Hebrews chapter 11. Some things look to us to be not so good, but it’s all working out for his good, for those that will believe.”
In the not so distant past, news networks cut off sports figures and others who dared to offend the public by talking about Jesus. For example, when Bubba Watson won his second Master’s Tournament, the network “dropped the signal” when he thanked and credited God. Oops, it looks like we’re having technical difficulties, they said lamely.
But this time, CBS didn’t cut the signal – even when they could have blamed the 250 miles of space between the International Space Station’s orbit and Earth’s surface. On March 18, Butch and fellow astronaut Suni Wilmore returned to Earth.
When the Boeing Starliner failed, Elon Musk’s SpaceX came to the rescue. The pair’s stay in the Space Station was supposed to last about a week. It prolonged into nine months.
Butch told the New York Times he didn’t mind being “stranded” in space.
“It’s fun,” he said on live video interview. “There are no guarantees. Human space flight is tough. Sometimes you run into situations that are unexpected.”
His military background prepared him to cope with being confined to a capsule, he says. He doesn’t consider his misfortuned, however, anything to be compared to the tragedy that struck America, whether hurricanes in Texas or fires in California – both of which he watched from above.
“To see a hurricane from space is truly amazing. To see the smoke rise from the West Coast of the United States and realize all that is taking place there, we’re heartbroken for all that is going on,” Butch said. “What we’re dealing with is nothing compared to those types of things. This is nothing compared to the devastation we have seen take place below us. Our prayers go out to them.”
Suni says they stayed busy with experimentation in space and didn’t chafe.
“This is a magical place, a wonderful place,” Suni said. “You want to enjoy every bit of your time up here.”
Butch got a special moment talking to his adult daughter via video communication. “I didn’t know how much I needed you until you were gone,” his daughter told him.
Warm fuzzies.
When he got back to Earth, he joined his family – and returned to church, in Pasadena, Texas.
“I dreamed of this day,” he told CBN.
“He is Lord. He is almighty God,” Butch said. “He is the one that came and paid the price for my sin. This is beyond importance, vital to existence.”
While in orbit, Butch led Bible devotionals, singing Amazing Grace in space.
NASA is paying him $5 a day for each extra day in space. How’s that for overtime pay?
