Houston, We Have A Believer: Astronaut Credits God In Making It To Space Station
HOUSTON — The world became familiar with Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams’ unplanned nine-month stay at the International Space Station. Only recently, though, are we learning the tenuous story of how they got there.
In an interview with the tech-focused publication Ars Technica, Wilmore shared never-before-heard details on the Boeing Starliner craft’s approach with the ISS last June and the “very precarious situation” he and Williams encountered.
The ship had performed flawlessly on liftoff and for most of the trip. But if there was one concern Wilmore had, it was with the reaction control system thrusters essential to docking with the space station.
Due to thruster issues, Wilmore took manual control of the craft as it approached the ISS. Three thrusters can be lost and still maintain control. Within a few hundred meters of docking, the ship lost its second.
I’m thinking, ‘Wow, we’re supposed to leave the space station’ [on Starliner] Because I know the flight rules,” Wilmore told reporter Eric Berger.” I did not know that the flight directors were already in discussions about waiving the flight rule because we’ve lost two thrusters. We didn’t know why [the thrusters failed]. They just dropped.”
A third, then a fourth, thruster went. The cost was “6DOF” — or six degrees of freedom — control that refers to forward/back, up/down and left/right. Wilmore was no longer able to move Starliner forward.
Returning to Earth was no better an option than docking, so Wilmore and Williams had to almost instantly decide the less risky approach.
“There was a lot of unsaid communication, like, ‘Hey, this is a very precarious situation we’re in.’” Williams said. “I think both of us overwhelmingly felt like it would be really nice to dock to that space station that’s right in front of us.”
Both credit mission control with the work being done feverishly at that moment.
“These folks are heroes,” said Wilmore. “And please print this. What do heroes look like? Well, heroes put their tank on and they run into a fiery building and pull people out of it. That’s a hero. Heroes also sit in their cubicle for decades studying their systems, and knowing their systems front and back.”
The seriousness of the situation was becoming more apparent by the second.
“I don’t know that we can come back to Earth at that point,” Wilmore said. “I don’t know if we can. And matter of fact, I’m thinking we probably can’t.”
This brought a moment when he had to trust those on the ground.
Flight director Ed Van Cise and his team decided to reset the thrusters as one would a computer. Doing this literally required Wilmore to take his hands off the controls as he watched the space station grow smaller.
It worked. Two thrusters came back to life.
“Now we’re back to single-fault tolerant,” said Wilmore. “But then we lose a fifth jet. What if we’d have lost that fifth jet while those other four were still down? I have no idea what would’ve happened.
“I attribute to the providence of the Lord getting those two jets back before that fifth one failed. So we’re down to zero-fault tolerant again. I can still maintain control.”
Flight control performed another reset, bringing back all but one thruster and allowing Starliner to dock automatically as originally intended.
The extra months in space came at a cost, primarily Wilmore’s missing most of his daughter’s senior year of high school.
But, the elder at Providence Baptist Church in Pasadena, Texas also watched live-streamed services and even took part in a Bible Institute class last semester, his pastor, Tommy Dahn, told a Houston Fox TV affiliate.
The experience has given Wilmore the opportunity to speak openly about his faith, both since his return and while he was aboard the ISS.
“It’s bound in my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He is working out His plan 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, I am content because I understand that,” he said.
Despite the kinks in getting to the ISS the first time, both Williams and Wilmore told reporters on Monday that Starliner is “very capable” and said they would sign up for a return trip.
“We’re going to rectify all the issues that we encountered,” Wilmore said. “We’re going to fix it, we’re going to make it work. Boeing’s completely committed. NASA is completely committed. And with that, I’d get on in a heartbeat.”
This article has been republished courtesy of Baptist Press.
Scott Barkley is chief national correspondent for Baptist Press.