Every now and then I am able to bring the girls with me to a staff meeting and give them a chance to hear from a special speaker. I don’t know if any have been quite as special, though, as Barry Wilmore! Who is Barry Wilmore, you ask?
In the history of man there have been less than 550 who have ever left the planet – Barry is 505 on that list. He piloted a Space Shuttle Atlantis mission to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2009, and just recently returned from a 6 month stay as Commander of the ISS. Yesterday he came to give a multi-media presentation to our staff about what it is like to be an astronaut. Before I share a few fun facts from that presentation, you might be asking the same thing that our girls asked ‘How did we find him to get him here to speak to us?’ Actually, he found us! You see, even with all the titles and awards Barry has, when interviewers ask him to describe himself his immediate answer is “I’m a wretched sinner saved by grace.” He is a strong believer in Christ who feels that a man’s greatest responsibility is to his family. He and his wife are also faithful FamilyLife listeners and resource users! With all his travels for training and then time away at the ISS, Barry decided that he wanted to use some of that time in space to become a better husband and father upon his return. He wanted to take ‘Stepping Up’ to the ISS. That is how he ended up getting connected with FamilyLife. Above you can see Barry presenting Dennis Rainey with his favorite view from space – the Nile River Valley and Israel. Dennis was as excited as a kid in a candy store! I’m sure we will continue to see the impact of Barry Wilmore’s testimony for Christ and support for FamilyLife as he continues to share his story through speaking engagements around the country.
Here are just a few of the fun facts I picked up from his presentation:
- In America, family and friends view a rocket launch from 3-4 miles away but in Russia (where the launch for Barry’s latest mission to the ISS took place) spectators are less than a mile from the launch pad!
- Launch speed is at about 5 miles per SECOND – many times faster than a bullet (Try to keep up Superman!)
- On the ISS, astronauts view 16 sunrises in every 24 hour period!
- The ISS is about the size of a football field from tip to tip.
And one of the craziest stories to me was how the ISS astronauts return to earth. The Soyuz space capsule is only about 7 feet across, and is designed to bring 3 astronauts home at a time. This descent happens in only about 5-6 hours! During the trip through the atmosphere, about 2/3 of the capsule is designed for one-time use and disintegrates upon re-entry – only the section containing the people survive. During this dramatic descent, the crew actually sees the burning bits of their ship streak past the tiny window – yikes! Even brave Barry Wilmore admitted that this was NOT his favorite part of the journey.