NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — NASA launched its Starliner today, an Alliance Atlas 5 rocket carrying astronauts for the first time in six decades.
The commander of the flight is Barry "Butch" E. Wilmore and his co-pilot was Sunita Williams. They have quite the experience between the both of them.
Wilmore is a native of Tennessee growing up in Mt. Juliet and attending school at Tennessee Technological University (TTU) and earning his bachelor's and master's degrees there in Electrical Engineering. Also, has an honorary doctorate from TTU.
Wilmore also earned a second master's degree in Aviation Systems at the University of Tennessee.
They both served in the Navy and were Navy test pilots. Now are active-duty NASA astronauts with four earlier spaceflights to their credit, 11 spacewalks between them, and a combined 500 days in orbit.
