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.

What is said in the film

A large part of the desire within us is to do things that are of benefit to others. In this job, we get to do things that are for benefit, truly for all mankind. As we explore the heavens that not many people get to experience. True. But we don't go just to get the experience.

It's about the team and it's about the benefit that it brings. My name is butch wilmore, and I am the commander for nasa's boeing crew flight test mission to the international space station. Life in tennessee, god's country. That's where I grew up. I'm very fortunate.

Had loving parents, took us to church. When I was young, seven years old. I believe, they bought a little land out in the country, six acres or so. We had horses and cows, and I raised chickens and ducks and just enjoyed life in the country. I went to tennessee tech, started working on an electrical engineering degree and played football, which was a very difficult combination I learned, because they both full time jobs.

So it was a lot of effort over those years, but it molded me and it helped instill the work ethic my parents had instilled in me when I was younger. I entered the navy and was fortunate to fly the a-7e, it’s a single seat attack aircraft, and I flew that for a couple of deployments, and then I transitioned to the f-18 hornet. And through that process, I selected in the test pilot program. You learn a lot about yourself as you go through test pilot school, where you're lacking and certain capabilities that are necessary to do a test pilot type of job. What comes to flight test the minute details matter when we're doing our runs.

Hey, let's run it this way. Let's do it that way. Let's add this. Let's take that out and let's look at it in that regime so we can see how the spacecraft responds. And that's what you do with aircraft.

That's what you do with spacecraft. And that's what this test is all about. This crew flight test is a series of these various tests to ensure that the operational requirements and the design meets those requirements. And I think everybody that does flight tests would agree focus, understanding, and also the team coming together to give you the overall understanding of the test and the capabilities of the spacecraft or aircraft that you're testing is vital. Sitting in this seat over here in the starliner sim and doing the things we've done and learning about the spacecraft, developing a lot of the capabilities of spacecraft.

It's very humbling when you see and you interact with some of these professionals and our human spaceflight and our nation has a debt of gratitude to them. Every single training evolution we have is brand new. We're the first to do it. Whether it is checking the survival equipment in the pool with a mockup of the spacecraft and how you egress get out of the spacecraft, whether it's the side hatch or the upper hatch. While the seas are rough and all those type of things.

There's a thought of how things should be. But then there's the reality of how things need to be. And that's what this test is- everything we do is test. It's been a process over years that is such a benefit in all aspects of the capabilities of this spacecraft, and we're excited to be a part of it.

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