Middle Tennessee native Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams are set to return to Earth, concluding an unexpected nine-month stay aboard the International Space Station, according to NASA. Wilmore, of Mt. Juliet, is a veteran aviator with over 8,000 flight hours and a retired U.S. Navy captain.
The astronauts arrived in June 2024 aboard Boeing’s Starliner, originally scheduled for a one-week stay. However, technical issues forced NASA to send the spacecraft back unmanned, leaving them aboard the ISS. Williams later took command of the station in September. While some, including former President Donald Trump and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, claimed the delay was politically motivated, NASA maintained that safety and logistics drove the decision.
To ensure their safe return, NASA fitted a SpaceX Dragon capsule with custom seats, which arrived in September. With the Crew-10 mission now replacing the ISS crew, Wilmore and Williams will finally board their ride home alongside NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.
After logging 178 days in space before this mission, Wilmore’s total time in orbit will exceed 350 days. He now returns to Tennessee, where his wife, daughters, and parents eagerly await his homecoming.
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