Prayer meetings are out of this world at Providence Baptist Church in Houston. Members of the church, which is about 10 minutes from the Johnson Space Center, take a moment during Wednesday Bible studies and Sunday evening services to pray for two members who are onboard the International Space Station.
Dwight Widaman, Editor
Astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Tracy Dyson took their faith in to space with them. “God uses all of us in pretty neat ways, and I think I get the most joy from what I do thinking about it in those terms,” Dyson said.
Dyson. Image: NASA.
Dyson’s six-month mission isn’t scheduled to end until September, but Wilmore and his fellow NASA test pilot, Suni Williams, should have been back weeks ago. They are staying longer than expected following thruster failures and helium leaks on Boeing’s inaugural crew flight for its Starline capsule, according to the AP. Wilmore and Williams have said they are confident the capsule will return them home safely; engineers are still poring over Starliner test data.
Dyson has been outspoken about the impact on faith in her personal life and career. She regularly encourages others about the power of God. “God uses all of us in pretty neat ways,” she once said.
She now has a 25-year career as a space astronaut, according to NASA, and is a three-time spaceflight veteran. She’s also a singer and sung the national anthem at the NCAA Men’s Final Four national championship game in Houston in April, 2023.
But for Dyson, her faith is the most important part of her life.
“God uses all of us in pretty neat ways, and I think I get the most joy from what I do thinking about it in those terms,” she said, discussing her job on the “Bible Project” podcast ahead of her launch on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft earlier this year, according to the AP.
You can listen to her full interview on the Bible Project HERE.
Barry Wilmore. Photo: NASA
No return date is set, which means the congregation’s worries have subsided for now, because s they are safe aboard the space station, said Tommy Dahn. He is a pastor for the Pasadena, Texas, church where Dyson worships as a newer member and Wilmore is a longtime elder. It’s the launch and return days that ratchet up their anxieties — and prayers.
Wilmore paused before boarding the Starliner on each launch attempt, huddling in prayer with technicians and Williams. He acknowledged the risks of spaceflight, especially on a test flight like his.
We trust in a sovereign God. Whatever the plan is, we’re ready for it, whatever that might be.
“Our families have been a part of this from the beginning,’ he told the Associated Press. “As far as preparing them, they’re prepared. We trust in a sovereign God. Whatever the plan is, we’re ready for it, whatever that might be.”
The ISS. Image: NASA.
In an online testimonial in 2022, Wilmore talked about his upbringing and the importance of his faith. “I was born into a Christian family, and I was raised in the church,” Wilmore said in an online testimonial. “I’m grateful for that. I am such that I needed to be in church Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night. I needed that. I needed that constant input of things righteousness and things that glorify God as I grew. Because I was mischievous, and I had a wandering eye, and I had a heart that wanted to experience all in the world that there was to experience.”
He also recounted an experience during his third walk in space when he encountered his image reflected in a reflective heat shield outside the International Space Station.
LIKE WHAT YOU READ: Support our work with prayer and a donation.
“I had that gold visor down, and I lifted my visor and saw my face inside the reflection there. I looked back over my left shoulder at the space station. It was on the sunny side of the orbit. When the sun is shining on the earth you can’t see stars because the sun’s light blanks out the starlight. It’s a very, very black sky with the sun shining contrasting with the beauty of the earth and the contrast of colors. And about that moment I looked down at the earth and saw Hawaii going by. … And as I look at this moment, I look down and there goes Hawaii below me. The beauty of the contrast of the island and the blue water and the clouds you could see and the blackness of the sky of space and the space station the sliver and the big huge gold solar arrays and the contrasting color. It’s sensory overload, it’s mesmerizing, it’s amazing. I look back at that guy in that reflection in that radiator and my thought was, ‘How did you get here?’ ”
I was there because the Lord in His planning purposes allowed me to be there and gave me that desire in my heart.
“And the answer is very clear. I was there because the Lord in His planning purposes allowed me to be there and gave me that desire in my heart. That’s why I was there,” Wilmore shared.
Today, with all his accomplishments on Earth and in space, he says his only goal is to glorify Christ.
It is unknown how many astronauts have practiced their faith in orbit, according to NASA, because some keep it private. But flight-certified religious items are permitted. In 2023, astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli celebrated Hannukah on the space station, sharing a video featuring a menorah, a spinning dreidel and her view of Earth. NASA says it helps observant astronauts stay connected to their faith community.
Step outside on a clear night and you’ll might see a bright dot, the International Space Station, zipping across the stars from the northwest to southeast. You can see where it is live, below, and determine when it will pass overhead.
When it does, look up and take a moment and say a prayer for those aboard.
–Dwight Widaman | Metro Voice