Barry Eugene "Butch" Wilmore (born December 29, 1962) is an American NASA astronaut and United States Navy test pilot.

As of December 2024[update], he is in space and is set to return to Earth no earlier than late March 2025 on a new SpaceX Dragon capsule.

[1] Wilmore was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee and raised in Mount Juliet by his mother Faye and father Eugene.

Wilmore has over 8,000 hours of flight time and 663 carrier landings, all in tactical jet aircraft,[1] and is a graduate of the United States Naval Test Pilot School (USNTPS).

Following the completion of two years of training and evaluation, Wilmore was assigned technical duties representing the Astronaut Office on all propulsion systems issues including the Space Shuttle Main Engines, solid rocket motor, external tank, and also served on the astronaut support team that traveled to the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, in support of launch and landing operations.

On October 7, 2020, NASA and Boeing announced Wilmore would join astronauts Michael Fincke and Nicole Mann for NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test (CFT), the inaugural crewed flight of the CST-100 Starliner launching to the International Space Station in 2021.

Despite months of testing, NASA felt it was not able to understand why the thrusters malfunctioned and decided that it was too risky to return Wilmore and Williams to Earth aboard Starliner.

As of December 2024[update], Wilmore and Williams will return to Earth no earlier than late March 2025 on a new SpaceX Dragon capsule.

Wilmore is the recipient of the Strike Fighter Wing Atlantic "Scott Speicher Award" for Weapons Employment Excellence (1998).