Meet Butch Wilmore, Commander of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test

NASA astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore is the commander of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. This will be his third trip to the International Space Station. In 2009, he served as a pilot aboard space shuttle Atlantis for STS-129. Additionally, Wilmore served as a flight engineer for Expedition 41 until November 2014, when he assumed command of the space station upon arrival of the Expedition 42 crew. He returned to Earth the following March. Prior to being selected by NASA in 2000, the Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, native obtained both his bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, before graduating with another master’s degree in Aviation Systems from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He is also a graduate of the United States Naval Test Pilot School, Patuxent River, Maryland, and has completed four operational deployments during his tenure as a fleet naval officer and aviator.