Tennessee's Barry Wilmore to return from space after landing on Trump, Elon Musk radar

Yahoo

12-02-2025

NASA has mildly accelerated Middle Tennessee native Barry "Butch" Wilmore's return to Earth after an unexpected extended stay in space, a homecoming President Donald Trump wants sooner rather than later.
Wilmore, a Mt. Juliet High School and Tennessee Tech University graduate, and crew member Sunita Williams have been at the International Space Station since early June due to spacecraft problems. Their mission was initially estimated for 1-2 weeks.
The most recent estimate given for Wilmore and Williams' homecoming was late March.
NASA announced Tuesday that it and SpaceX hope to accelerate the target launch to March 12 for the next astronauts to replace the space station's current crew, pending mission readiness factors.
The Crew-9 mission astronauts would return to Earth several days after the spacecraft with the Crew-10 astronauts docks at the space station, according to NASA, which noted that the lapse in days would be so the new crew could complete a required handoff period.
The return date, estimated at about five days after space docking, could vary based on factors that include weather, a NASA spokesperson said.
"We hope and pray that everything will go as planned and all will be safe," Barry Wilmore's father Eugene Wilmore said.
President Trump posted on social media in late January that he wants SpaceX owner Elon Musk to 'go get' Wilmore and Williams.
Musk responded on X to Trump's request to return the pair 'as soon as possible.'
NASA released a statement on Trump's statements.
'NASA and SpaceX are expeditiously working to safely return the agency's SpaceX Crew-9 astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore as soon as practical, while also preparing for the launch of Crew-10 to complete a handover between expeditions," it read.
The Wilmore family has not had much discussion on the Trump and Musk information, according to Barry Wilmore's older brother Jack Wilmore.
"(We) know that everything will work out in time," Jack Wilmore said. "We are strong in our faith in Jesus, and we are enjoying every day."
Barry Wilmore and Williams went to the International Space Station (ISS) on a test mission for the Boeing Starliner. They have been in space more than eight months and the mid- to late March return would push the stay to more than nine months.
The Starliner was beset by problems that eventually led to its return to Earth without a crew due to safety concerns.
NASA's plan to speed up the Crew-10's space arrival was made along with a decision to use a previously flown Dragon spacecraft instead of a new Dragon spacecraft, which needs a longer processing time, according to the agency.
Wilmore and Williams would return alongside SpaceX Crew 9 members Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, who are also at the ISS.
Wilmore has emphasized in briefings from the space station that preparation for the unexpected accounts for a vast majority of training for any mission.
Wilmore recently completed his fifth spacewalk as he and Williams have been part of research, maintenance and other activities at the ISS during their extended stay.
Reach Andy Humbles at [e-mail] and on X, formerly known as Twitter @ AndyHumbles.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Trump pushes Elon Musk, NASA to get Tennessee's Barry Wilmore to Earth