The astronaut is stepping away from NASA shortly after returning from a troubled test flight that left him aboard the ISS months longer than expected.
Astronaut Butch Wilmore is retiring from NASA less than five months after he returned from a troubled test mission that left him aboard the International Space Station far longer than expected, the space agency announced Wednesday.
Wilmore, along with NASA astronaut Suni Williams, piloted the first crewed flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft last year. The mission gained worldwide attention when the spacecraft experienced several serious issues en route to the space station, including thruster outages and gas leaks. Williams and Wilmore had been expected to stay about eight days in orbit. But NASA and Boeing spent weeks attempting to pinpoint what went wrong with their vehicle and assessing whether Starliner was safe to carry the astronauts home. The space agency ultimately decided returning the duo to Earth aboard Starliner was too risky a proposition. NASA announced last August that Williams and Wilmore would join the next International Space Station crew rotation along with two other astronauts on SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission and remain aboard the orbiting laboratory for several additional months. Williams and Wilmore ultimately returned home in March — more than nine months after they left Earth. Such a duration of stay in orbit is not uncommon, as astronauts routinely live on the space station for six months or longer when they serve on staff rotation missions. ‘Legacy of fortitude’ Both astronauts have maintained the position that they were fully prepared for their extended stay in space, saying they each understood the risks and uncertainty associated with test flying a spacecraft for the first time. Williams and Wilmore also repeatedly sought to quash narratives that they were “abandoned,” “stuck” or “stranded” in space. “That’s been the narrative from day one: stranded, abandoned, stuck — and I get it, we both get it,” Wilmore told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in February. “Help us change the narrative, let’s change it to: prepared and committed despite what you’ve been hearing. That’s what we prefer.” Wilmore’s “commitment to NASA’s mission and dedication to human space exploration is truly exemplary,” said Steve Koerner, the acting head of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, where astronauts train, in a statement Wednesday. “His lasting legacy of fortitude,” Koerner added, “will continue to impact and inspire the Johnson workforce, future explorers, and the nation for generations.” Wilmore’s departure from NASA follows the example set by Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, the two astronauts who piloted the first crewed test flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule in 2020. That mission marked the last for both Behken and Hurley, who have each since retired. Wilmore, a Naval officer and test pilot who served in 21 combat missions, joined NASA’s astronaut corps in 2000. He flew on three missions during his 25 years of service, including a mission on the space shuttle Atlantis and a trip to the space station on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Notably, upon his return to Earth on a SpaceX capsule in March, Wilmore said that he would theoretically fly aboard one of Boeing’s Starliner capsules again if given the opportunity. “We’re going to rectify all the issues that we encountered. We’re going to fix them, we’re going to make it work,” Wilmore said during a March 31 news conference. “And with that, I’d get on in a heartbeat.”
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
ISS astronaut spies sunglint from Lake Titicaca | Space photo of the day for July 9, 2025Kenna Hughes-Castleberry is the Content Manager at Space.com. Formerly, she was the Science Communicator at JILA, a physics research institute. Kenna is also a freelance science journalist. Her beats include quantum technology, AI, animal intelligence, corvids, and cephalopods.
Read more »
NASA, SpaceX targeting July 31 for launch of Crew-11 astronaut mission to ISSJosh Dinner is the Staff Writer for Spaceflight at Space.com. He is a writer and photographer with a passion for science and space exploration, and has been working the space beat since 2016.
Read more »
This NASA astronaut manages to make vacuuming look kinda coolVacuuming is such a chore ... unless you're in space.
Read more »
What time is SpaceX's Crew-11 astronaut launch to the ISS on July 31?Samantha Mathewson joined Space.com as an intern in the summer of 2016. She received a B.A. in Journalism and Environmental Science at the University of New Haven, in Connecticut. Previously, her work has been published in Nature World News.
Read more »
NASA Astronaut Kate Rubins, First to Sequence DNA in Space, RetiresNASA astronaut and microbiologist Kate Rubins retired Monday after 16 years with the agency. During her time with NASA, Rubins completed two long-duration
Read more »
SpaceX, NASA say Crew-11 astronaut mission is 'go' for launch to ISS on July 31Brett is curious about emerging aerospace technologies, alternative launch concepts, military space developments and uncrewed aircraft systems. Brett's work has appeared on Scientific American, The War Zone, Popular Science, the History Channel, Science Discovery and more.
Read more »