Butch Wilmore – Spaceflight Now

Technical snags force another delay for Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule

June 1, 2023 Stephen Clark

Boeing and NASA officials said Thursday the first launch of astronauts on Boeing’s delay-prone Starliner crew capsule won’t happen in July after engineers recently discovered a problem with the spacecraft’s parachute system and identified flammable tape around wiring harnesses inside the vehicle.

Boeing crew capsule test flight now scheduled for late summer

April 21, 2021 Stephen Clark

A second unpiloted test flight of Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule — ordered after an initial demonstration mission fell short of reaching the International Space Station — is now scheduled for launch from Cape Canaveral in August or September, leaving little margin to conduct the spaceship’s first flight with astronauts before the end of the year.

Commander of first piloted Starliner test flight steps down from mission

October 7, 2020 William Harwood

Christopher Ferguson, commander of the final space shuttle flight and now a Boeing executive, has stepped down as commander of the first piloted test flight of the company’s troubled CST-100 Starliner commercial spacecraft, he and Boeing announced Wednesday. He has been replaced by NASA astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore.

NASA reveals crews for first flights of commercial spaceships

August 3, 2018 Stephen Clark

NASA announced Friday a mix of spaceflight veterans and rookie astronauts who will launch on the first flights of new Boeing and SpaceX commercial spaceships starting as soon as next spring, several months later than previously scheduled.

Photos: Soyuz landing craft touches down in wintry Kazakhstan

March 12, 2015 Stephen Clark

A three-member space crew returned to Earth just after sunrise Thursday in Kazakhstan, descending through a sun-splashed sky under an orange and white parachute before dipping through fog for a rocket-cushioned touchdown on the snowy steppes of Central Asia.

Soyuz lands in Kazakhstan, returning international crew home

March 12, 2015 William Harwood

Three space station fliers — the outgoing NASA commander and two Russian cosmonauts — undocked and returned to Earth Wednesday, ending a 167-day stay in space with a communications blackout that left the crew out of contact with flight controllers during much of the trip home.

Live coverage: Space station crew back on Earth

March 11, 2015 Stephen Clark

Three crew members departed the International Space Station on Wednesday and descended back to Earth, touching down in Kazakhstan aboard the Soyuz TMA-14M capsule at 10:08 p.m. EDT (0208 GMT Thursday).

Space station crew ready to close out 167-day mission

March 10, 2015 Stephen Clark

Two Russian cosmonauts and a U.S. Navy test pilot will buckle into custom-molded seats inside a Soyuz spaceship Wednesday, undock from the International Space Station and head for a parachute-assisted landing in Kazakhstan to close out a 167-day space voyage.

Astronauts install antennas for commercial crew capsules

March 1, 2015 William Harwood

Astronauts Terry Virts and space station commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore ventured back outside Sunday for their third spacewalk in eight days to complete initial preparations for upcoming dockings by commercially developed Boeing and SpaceX crew ferry ships.

NASA approves Sunday spacewalk

February 28, 2015 William Harwood

International Space Station managers Friday cleared astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Terry Virts to proceed with a third spacewalk Sunday, as originally planned, after concluding a small amount of water in Virts’ space helmet after an EVA Wednesday was an understood condition and not a threat to crew safety.