Astronaut Butch Wilmore has announced his retirement from NASA less than five months after he returned from a test mission that left him aboard the International Space Station far longer than expected.
On Wednesday, August 6, Steve Koerner, the acting head of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, said that Wilmore's "commitment to NASA's mission and dedication to human space exploration is truly exemplary."
Wilmore, along with NASA astronaut Sunita 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. However, as the agency tried to figure out the issue with the vehicle, their return was delayed by nine months.
The duo made their return in March, after a long duration of stay in orbit, which is not uncommon, as astronauts routinely live on the space station for six months or longer when they serve on staff rotation missions.
Both astronauts have remained firm 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.
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.
