Astronaut Butch Wilmore withdraws from NASA less than five months after he returned from a troubled test mission that left him on board the International Space Station much longer than expected, the space agency announced on Wednesday.
Wilmore, together with NASA -Astronaut Suni Williams, sent the first crew light of Boeing's Starliner -Space Vares last year. The mission received global attention when the spacecraft experiences various serious problems on the way to the space station, including thrust disturbances and gas leaks.
Williams and Wilmore were expected to stay around the earth for about eight days. But NASA and Boeing have spent weeks determining what went wrong with their vehicle and to assess whether Starliner was safe to wear the astronauts home.
The space agency finally decided that the return of the duo to the earth on board Starliner was too risky a proposal. NASA announced last August that Williams and Wilmore would participate in the next international rotation of space stations, together with two other astronauts on the crew-9 mission of SpaceX and stay on board the track laboratory for several months.
Williams and Wilmore finally returned home in March – more than nine months after they left the earth. Such a duration of stay is not uncommon, because astronauts are routinely for six months or more at the Space Station for living when they serve for rotation missions of the staff.
Astronauts Suni Williams (left) and Butch Wilmore Train in Nasa's Johnson Space Center in 2022. – Robert Markowitz/NASA
'Legacy of Fortitude'
Both astronauts have maintained the position that they were fully prepared for their long -term stay in space, and said that they each understood the risks and uncertainty related to test with a spacecraft for the first time.
Williams and Wilmore also tried to destroy stories that they were “abandoned”, “stuck” or “stranded” in space.
“That has been the story from the first day: stranded, abandoned, stuck – and I get it, we both get it,” Wilmore told Anderson Cooper of CNN in February. “Help us change the story, let's turn it into: prepared and dedicated despite what you have heard. That is what we prefer.”
Wilmore's “dedication to the mission and dedication of NASA to the exploration of human space is really exemplary,” says Steve Koerner, the acting head of the Johnson Space Center of NASA in Houston, where astronauts train in a statement on Wednesday.
“His permanent legacy of determination,” Koerner added, “the Johnson -employees, future explorers and the nation will continue to influence and inspire for generations.”
The departure of Wilmore from NASA follows the example of Bob Behnken and Douley, the two astronauts who controlled the first municipal test flight of SpaceX's Crew Dragon Capsule in 2020. That mission marked the latter for both stores and Hurley, who have each retired since then.
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.
In particular, on his return to Earth on a SpaceX capsule in March, Wilmore said he would fly theoretically on board at one of Boeing's Starliner capsules again if the chance was given.
“We are going to solve all the problems we encounter. We are going to solve them, we will let it work,” said Wilmore during a press conference of 31 March. “And with that I could get along in a heartbeat.”
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