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- Butch Wilmore of 'stuck' Boeing Starliner crew retires from NASA after troubled mission</p>
<p>Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY August 8, 2025 at 10:19 PM</p>
<p>Astronaut Butch Wilmore's venture to space aboard the ill-fated Boeing Starliner spacecraft appears to be his last – at least with NASA.</p>
<p>NASA has announced that Wilmore is retiring from the U.S. space agency a little more than a year since he and astronaut Suni Williams set out for the International Space Station for what was meant to be a brief orbital stay. Selected for the Starliner's first crewed test flight, Wilmore and Williams were thrust into the worldwide spotlight after the troubled mission stretched on for months due to issues with the spacecraft.</p>
<p>Now, after returning to Earth in March, Wilmore is hanging up the spacesuit, NASA announced in a Wednesday, Aug. 6, press release.</p>
<p>Of course, retiring from NASA doesn't always mean the end of an astronaut's space traveling days. Peggy Whitson, 65, has famously returned to space on two ventures with a private company known as Axiom Space after her retirement from NASA in 2018.</p>
<p>What's next for Wilmore remains to be seen. In the meantime, here's everything to know about the experienced spacefarer, as well as his part in the Starliner saga.</p>
<p>Who is Butch Wilmore?</p>
<p>NASA Astronaut Barry "Butch" Wilmore</p>
<p>Wilmore, 62, is a Tennessee native first selected as a NASA astronaut in 2000.</p>
<p>Prior to joining NASA, Wilmore, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, served as U.S. Navy captain and test pilot who flew on numerous combat missions.</p>
<p>Wilmore flew on three spaceflights during his 25 years at NASA, which included being a passenger on four different spacecraft and accumulating 464 days in space.</p>
<p>NASA announces Butch Wilmore's retirement as astronaut</p>
<p>In announcing Wilmore's retirement, Steve Koerner, the acting head of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, said the astronaut's "commitment to NASA's mission and dedication to human space exploration is truly exemplary."</p>
<p>"His lasting legacy of fortitude will continue to impact and inspire the Johnson workforce, future explorers, and the nation for generations," Koerner said in a statement.</p>
<p>Wilmore said in his own statement that he has been "captivated by the marvels of creation" since he was young, "looking upward with an insatiable curiosity."</p>
<p>"This curiosity propelled me into the skies, and eventually to space, where the magnificence of the cosmos mirrored the glory of its creator in ways words can scarcely convey," Wilmore said in the statement. "Even as I ventured beyond Earth's limits, I remained attuned to the beauty and significance of the world below, recognizing the same intricate design evident among the stars is also woven into the fabric of life at home."</p>
<p>Wilmore crewed Boeing Starliner with astronaut Suni Williams</p>
<p>Wilmore's retirement announcement comes less than five months after he returned from the International Space Station following an unexpectedly lengthy stay. Wilmore, along with NASA astronaut Suni Williams, were the two selected to crew the inaugural human flight of the Boeing Starliner in 2024.</p>
<p>Wilmore and Williams launched June 5, 2024, on a mission to test a vehicle intended to one day join the SpaceX Dragon in transporting NASA astronauts to orbit. The Starliner capsule rode to orbit atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center near Cape Canaveral, Florida.</p>
<p>Wilmore and Williams reached the International Space Station the next day, June 6, 2024, where they were expected to remain for about 10 days before returning home. Instead, the two astronauts quickly became fixtures of the news cycle for months when the vehicle that sent them to the space station encountered a series of technical failures.</p>
<p>Wilmore and Williams repeatedly pushed back against the notion that they were "stuck" in space – a claim most prominently put forward by President Donald Trump. Instead, the astronauts insisted that they were prepared and trained for a long duration mission, a situation they understood was possible when flying on a test spacecraft like Starliner.</p>
<p>During their 286 days at the orbital laboratory, Wilmore and Williams helped conduct scientific research and perform routine station maintenance. The pair also completed a spacewalk together in January that led to Williams setting a record among women astronauts.</p>
<p>What happened with the Boeing Starliner mission?</p>
<p>Uncrewed spacecraft Starliner departed from the International Space Station and is making its way back to Earth for a landing in the New Mexico desert on August 6, 2024</p>
<p>When the Starliner made it to the space station, engineers discovered a slew of helium leaks and problems with the craft's propulsion system that for months hampered Starliner's return to Earth.</p>
<p>Williams and Wimore's fate remained uncertain for months as NASA and Boeing deliberated on how best to get them home.</p>
<p>But NASA and Boeing ultimately decided that the troubled Starliner capsule wasn't safe enough to crew and would instead return to Earth without them. That happened Sept. 6 when the empty Boeing Starliner undocked and made its way back to Earth for a parachute-assisted landing in the New Mexico desert.</p>
<p>On Sept. 28, 2024, NASA launched the SpaceX Crew-9 mission as planned, but with one crucial change: Instead of four astronauts, just two – Nick Hague of NASA and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov – headed to the space station on a Dragon, leaving two empty seats on their vehicle reserved for Wilmore and Williams.</p>
<p>The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft floats off the coast of Florida as support teams work to recover the vehicle. NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov returned on the capsule Tuesday evening after departing the International Space Station.</p>
<p>NASA opted to keep Williams and Wilmore at the station a few extra months rather than launch an emergency mission to return them to Earth and leave the station understaffed.</p>
<p>Williams and Wilmore eventually departed the space station with the Crew-9 team and safely landed March 17 off the Florida coast a few days after the arrival of the Crew-10 mission.</p>
<p>Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [email protected]</p>
<p>This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Butch Wilmore, who rode Starliner with Suni Williams, retires at NASA</p>
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