NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore has spent the past nine minutes months floating in the heavens. So it seems only right how important his faith is to him.
Wilmore, along with fellow astronaut Suni Williams, spent nine months aboard the International Space Station (ISS) in a mission that was supposed to last eight days, but turned into nine months, Fox News reported.
The pair spoke with Fox News’ Bill Hemmer Monday and Wilmore revealed how his faith endured in space.
“I heard that you were still attending your church services from space. Can you tell me a bit about why that was important for you to do?” Hemmer asked.
“Well, goodness, the Word of God … I need it,” Wilmore said. “My pastors are the finest pastors on or off, in this case, the planet.”
Wilmore would watch the services from his Tennessee church on the ISS.
“I also [tuned] into Grace Baptist Church in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. A buddy of mine is an elder there and a pastor there, and I would watch their service as well, every single week,” he said.
The astronaut found the weekly services “invigorating” and stressed how he needed Christian fellowship.
“Part of what I need, as a believer in Jesus Christ, to continue that focus – a system, day in and day out, because I need that fellowship, even though it’s fellowship from afar,” Wilmore said. “And it’s not like being fellowship up close, but still I need it.”
Williams and Wilmore returned to Earth on the SpaceX Dragon capsule on March 18.
