Barry “Butch” Wilmore flew through the Space Shuttle, a dragon from the Russian Soyuz, Boeing Starliner and SpaceX crew.
He’s calling it a career after 25 years at NASA and 464 days in space, the agency announced Wednesday.
Wilmore, 62, a retired US Navy captain, was selected as an astronaut candidate after graduating from the US Navy Testing Pilot School in 2000.
“Throughout his career, Butch has illustrated the technical excellence of what astronauts need. His adaptability and unwavering commitment to NASA’s mission, his mastery of complex systems has inspired us all.” “As he stepped into this new chapter, that same dedication will undoubtedly continue to show anything he has decided to do next.”
His recent space trip made national headlines when he ordered the mission for the Boeing Star Liner’s first crew to the International Space Station after it was launched on June 5, 2024 by Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, which is located above the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
He and his crew member Snie Williams were able to dock after a day, but Starliner suffered helium leaks and thruster obstacles in the propulsion module, delaying returns from what appears to be as short as an eight-day stay.
NASA will eventually bring two Starliner astronauts into the station and send the spaceship home last fall.
This duo meant they had to wait for a new ride to arrive at the station that came in the form of a Crew 9 mission at SpaceX crew’s Dragon Freedom, which arrived in September. However, they still had to wait until the mission for Crew 9 at the station was finished, so they didn’t return to Earth until nearly ten months after their first arrival.
He got on, despite not being able to return the spaceship home, but Wilmore said he was a fan of the spaceship.
“Starliner is most capable when you think about its ability to pilot automatically,” he said two weeks after returning home. “I mean, before we started, I jokingly said that we could literally do a barrel roll at the top of the space station.
Wilmore was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee in 1962 and grew up on Mount Juliet outside Nashville. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Tennessee, and a master’s degree in aviation systems from the University of Tennessee.
“From my early days, I have been fascinated by the wonders of creation and have looked upwards with insatiable curiosity,” Wilmore said. “This curiosity drove me into the sky and ultimately into the universe, where the grandeur of the universe reflected the glory of the Creator in a way that words could hardly convey.”
His first space trip was in 2009 as a pilot for a nearly 11-day STS-129 mission to the space station on the Space Shuttle Atlantis.
He then flew to his only Soyuz mission in 2014, staying for a long time at a station that lasted more than 166 days.
His third trip to space, flying through Starliner and Dragon’s house, made him and his crew Williams unique among the humans on the spaceship.
The duo is the same as John Young of Orlando’s flying on four different spacecrafts that do not include a space station. Young flew the first space shuttle flight above two Gemini and two Apollo missions. At Apollo 16, Young was walking the moon, so he flew in both the crew service module and the lunar module.
During Wilmore’s time in space, he ran five spacecrafts that spent more than 32 hours outside the safety of the space station. On his recent trip, the devout Christian has spent every Sunday attending the online services of his hometown church, speaking out about his faith while performing his NASA duties.
“Even as I ventured beyond the limits of the Earth, I continued to accustomed to the beauty and importance of the following world. I realized that the same intricate designs that are apparent among the stars are woven into the fabrics of living at home,” Wilmore said.
Wilmore’s retirement follows other NASA astronauts who fell into space this year, including the 2009 astronaut class Kate Rubins and Janet Epps.
The list of NASA astronauts eligible for space allocation can be found at 42. Five of them are currently located at the space station, while two are back to Earth on Friday. Another three will be assigned to fly and fly the moon on next year’s Artemis II mission.
Still the oldest astronaut in the Corps was from the Astronaut class in 1996 and is currently aboard the station as part of the crew.
Original issue: August 6, 2025, 4:23pm EDT
