After a 25-year career, astronaut Butch Wilmore has retired from NASA, the agency announced Wednesday.

Wilmore’s departure comes just months after returning from a mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS) that stretched far beyond its original timeline. Wilmore, 62, along with Suni Williams were among the first two test pilots on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which launched June 5, 2024 and was supposed to last a week. Due to technical issues with the capsule, their return was delayed for more than nine months.

Wilmore’s final mission accounted for the majority of his 464 total days in space, with 286 days logged on this flight alone.

Despite public perceptions that the pair were “stranded” or “stuck,” both astronauts emphasized in interviews that they were fully prepared f

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