How Faith Sustained an Astronaut in the Unknown

STARLINER MISSION: WHAT WENT WRONG 
 

Any number of thoughts raced through Butch Wilmore’s mind on June 5, 2024. After a successful takeoff of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, the first with a crew, and many hours racing into space, a problem arose as they approached the ISS (International Space Station). “We’re in the thick of it – seated inside a small capsule, suspended in the endless vacuum of space, and staring at the ISS just 260 meters away. We’re now beyond zero fault tolerant to 6DOF (six degrees of freedom) control, and we’ve lost the ability to fully control the spacecraft’s forward/aft translation. Based on the spacecraft’s current condition, I am fairly certain that if we do not dock, we will be forced to depart the vicinity of the ISS and likely won’t make it back to Earth. The realization hits hard.  We must dock, or we probably won’t survive.” Butch and his crew member, Suni Williams, had nearly completed their journey to the ISS when four aft-firing thrusters on their Starliner spacecraft failed. Now they needed to dock to the ISS just to survive. With the great help and guidance of Mission Control in Houston, they continued on.  “Inch by inch, we close on the forward-docking adapter and stray only a bit off-target, which the system corrects slowly.  At long last, we connect with the ISS, and the ‘Capture’ signal on the forward display illuminates to signal the initial stage of a successful docking. I breathe a sigh of relief,” Butch says.  “It takes time, attention, and patience, but we eventually complete the docking procedure.  We made it, and we are alive.  After several hours on a knife’s edge, and having safely docked to the ISS, emotions of success and relief begin to emerge, like none we had ever experienced before.  What a day!” 

NINE MONTHS IN SPACE 

“Nine months in space is a long time,” Butch is the first to admit. He and Suni Williams knew quickly that they would not likely return to Earth in the time planned, but it was weeks before NASA decided to send them home on a different spacecraft and also fold them into a regular ISS rotation, being six to nine months. “Professionally, I had flown as pilot of Apace Shuttle Atlantis in 2009 and flown on the Russian Soyuz to the ISS where I spent six months on board and served as commander in 2014-2015.”  Adjusting from the expected eight days to more than nine months was a challenge for him and Suni, to say the least. “I am thankful to be aboard the ISS,” he said at the time, “especially since we came so close to not making it, but at the same time, I have no desire to relive the tasks associated with long-term living in space. Adjusting to it isn’t hard at all, but dealing with the daily routine often feels like life is simply ‘marking time.’”

“Physical fitness during spaceflight, especially long-duration spaceflight, is a necessity to prevent muscle atrophy and bone loss.  Muscles that aren’t used fade over time, and bone that is not continuously stimulated with pressure begins to lose the all-important calcium that keeps them strong.  To combat such losses, we schedule physical exertion in space for two and a half hours a day, every day. I have not missed a day of workout for a full year to continually put stress on my body,” he explained.

Of course, missing family and friends was the hardest part of the ordeal, Butch conceded.  “Being in space for so long takes me away from serving others. I’m unable to minister to the people in our church. I’m not present to assist those asking for help. I’m not there for my daughters when they need their Dad.”  Butch’s older daughter, Daryn, was in the theater program at East Texas Baptist University, and he was sad to miss out on her various events.  He also missed most all of his younger daughter, Logan’s, senior year of high school and all her volleyball games – a disappointment to be sure.  “On top of all that, I’m not with my wife, confidant, best friend, and partner in all things, Deanna, whom I need.  Am I content here on the ISS?  Absolutely. However, does contentment mean being emotionless and without concern for the situations at home?  Of course not! As a believer in Christ, I have no need to worry or be anxious about life because Jesus has conquered all and is in control of all (Matthew 6:25-34, Hebrews 1:3).”  

Despite the completely unexpected, exceedingly long stay Butch had on the ISS, he knew there would be things he’d miss about life aboard the ISS. “Once I return to Earth and leave behind the unique confines of zero gravity, I will miss some aspects of living in space. For example, I won’t be able to twist the lid off my jar of crunchy peanut butter and have it hover nearby, spinning away until I finished my spoonful of goodness and am ready to put it back in place. My regular Superman flights from module to module will cease. The morning back flips will disappear, too – gravity will ensure I don’t experience those joyful moments again.”        

RETURNING HOME 

“It’s time to go home,” Butch was finally able to say on March 17, 2025.  “As I prepare to leave, I am ninety-eight percent ready to go, but a small part of me is sad to leave the amazing and unique environment of the ISS.  After all, it’s been my home for almost ten months.”  Though thrilled to be returning to his family, and many others, too, Butch says there’s one thing he doesn’t look forward to at home – sag. “That’s right, sag,” he said.  “We all know that, as we age, our bodies succumb to gravity, and sag rules the day. It’s not that way in space.  Up here, I actually have a six-pack and a chest Arnold Schwarzenegger would be proud of. But on Earth, it’s all sag. I don’t care for sag, and I don’t think anyone else much cares for it either.”  

After a highly successful trip home in a SpaceX spacecraft, Butch, Suni, and the two astronauts with them were about to splash down in the Atlantic.  “BANG! Mortars now eject the main parachutes with precision and we feel each slight jerk as the first set of risers release, then the next, followed by the next, until all are fully ‘reefed’ and parachutes inflated.  I’m sure you can imagine that there’s no better feeling in life than returning from space and having your parachutes function properly as designed.  The Lord even ordered up a greeting party of dolphins” Butch exclaimed. 

TYING IT ALL UP 

Amazingly, Butch says this about the nine months he never intended to spend in space: “By His providence, He ordained trials as personal training for greater challenges that came later in my life so that, by the time I was stuck in space, my heart had been prepared.  As a result, I was so full of faith, joy, and peace that my unexpected stay on the ISS was hardly a trial at all. Without exception, when I turned my attention to the Lord, the calm assurance of His presence brought me comfort, peace, and strength beyond my ability to understand.  He continually strengthened and sustained my resolve to prayerfully move forward.  

TAKEAWAYS 

• You can’t control circumstances—but you can control your response.

•  Faith can anchor you in uncertainty.

•. Preparation long before the crisis matters most.

•  Leadership is tested in the hardest moments.

•. Isolation reveals what matters most.

•. Perspective changes everything.

•. Fear must be managed, not followed.

•. Trials are not detours—they are part of the mission.

•. Gratitude and purpose can coexist with hardship.

•. Endurance is both physical and mental.

To learn more about Barry "Butch" Wilmore, or to purchase his book, Stuck in Space, click the LINK!

CREDITS

Author, Stuck in Space, The Heirloom Press, 2026 / Ret. NASA Astronaut, logged 464 days in space across three missions / Piloted the Space Shuttle Atlantis, commanded the International Space Station, and led Boeing’s Starliner / Ret. U.S. Navy Captain, decorated Naval Aviator, with more than 8000 flight hours and 663 carrier landings / Unashamed of his deep faith in Jesus Christ, he speaks around the world on perseverance, leadership, and God’s majesty in creation. / Married to Deanna, two grown daughters, Daryn and Logan