Windsor, N.Y.—As the countdown to NASA’s shuttle blast-off on Tuesday nears, the excitement in one astronaut’s boyhood church is also mounting.
This Tuesday at precisely 11:39 a.m., Army Colonel Douglas Wheelock, a NASA astronaut who grew up at West Windsor Baptist Church in Windsor, N.Y., will blast into space on his first spaceflight, leaving Earth’s confines aboard shuttle mission STS-120.
Doug’s parents, still members of the church, will be watching and cheering from the sidelines, along with a group of fans from his hometown church, including his senior pastor and assistant pastor. “Everyone is so excited,” says Doug’s mom, Margaret, who says her pastor has been checking the NASA website regularly and informing her and her husband, Olin, of the latest details.
Their astronaut son is also good about calling home with live updates. “Hi, Mom; it’s Doug. I’m standing on the launch pad!” he said last week during a break in the seven-member crew’s countdown rehearsal for the launch. Recently he sent a note. “It’s getting exciting. Thanks for cheering us on!”
Margaret laughs. “I’m just praying that our excitement overtakes our fear,” she says. Although Doug has always loved flying, his mother never really dreamed her son would become an astronaut, let alone travel into the heavens with six others for a two-week international space mission. “I can’t get my mind around it; it’s unbelievable,” she says.
Doug is one of seven members of the space shuttle Discovery, preparing to deliver a new connecting module named Harmony to the International Space Station and continue assembly of the complex’s solar power system. According to NASA, Harmony will provide attachment points for new laboratories from Europe and Japan that will be launched to the station on upcoming missions. This mission is the first expansion of the station’s living and working space in more than six years.
Margaret and Olin still remember hearing the shocking news of the Columbia disaster in 2003, when the shuttle disintegrated during reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven crew members. “I guess because my son was interested in space by then, it came to my attention even more,” says Margaret.
How does she cope with fear for her son’s safety in space? “You would be crazy to say you’re not fearful a little bit,” she admits. But Doug reminds her that he has faith in the spaceship and in the engineers to do their job. Faith in the Lord, of course, is paramount. “I know the Lord will get me through it,” says Margaret, who’s grateful that Doug is a believer (as are her other three sons). “I just have to focus on the Lord and keep calling on Him.” During fearful moments, she meditates on Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.”
West Windsor Baptist Church hopes to have a “Meet the Astronaut” day as an evangelistic outreach after Doug’s return. Meanwhile Margaret put together a large bulletin board at church, decorated with pictures of Doug, his crew, and the shuttle. Underneath in bold print are the words of Doug’s favorite Bible verse from Isaiah 40:31: “They shall mount up with wings as eagles.”
