About 10 miles from Johnson Space Center, members of Providence Baptist Church take a moment during Wednesday Bible studies and Sunday evening services to pray for two members who cannot be there.
They have a good excuse. NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Tracy Dyson are in space, orbiting the planet. More specifically, these two church members are working on the International Space Station together.
Like many astronauts before them, they brought along their faith when they launched into space.
Dyson discussed her job on the “Bible Project” podcast ahead of her March launch on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. She told listeners: “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’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 Starliner capsule. Wilmore and Williams have said they are confident the capsule will return them home safely; engineers are still poring over Starliner test data.
There’s no return date yet, which means the congregation’s worries have subsided for now since they are safe aboard the space station.
Dyson is a new member at Providence Baptist. Wilmore is a longtime elder.