After going to space, doesn’t this job kinda seem like a downgrade?
Barry “Butch” Wilmore, one of the astronauts who was stranded on the International Space Station back in 2024 and rescued last year, is apparently throwing his hat into the ring to be the next governor of Tennessee.
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams had originally traveled up to the International Space Station for a week-long mission in June of 2024. They traveled up to the ISS in a Boeing Starliner on a mission that was designed to test the strength of the spacecraft, but unfortunately the Starliner suffered multiple helium leaks and experienced thruster issues.
NASA opted to send the aircraft back down to Earth without anyone aboard, which left the pair of astronauts stranded up in space until the next mission.
All in all, the trip that was supposed to last 8 days ended up lasting 286. It was only when Elon Musk’s SpaceX stepped in to help bring them home that the astronauts were able to prepare to go back to Earth.
Musk and President Donald Trump implied that the astronauts could have been saved earlier, but former President Joe Biden decided to leave them there until after the November election. And after the astronauts were safely returned to Earth last March, Wilmore said he had no reason to doubt their claims while also praising Trump and Musk for getting him home:
“I have no reason not to believe anything they say, because they’ve earned my trust. And for that, I am grateful that our national leaders actually are coming in and taking part in our human spaceflight program – which we see as hugely important (and having) global significance. They take an active role, and based on the past and what we see now, it’s refreshing. Not just refreshing, it’s empowering. It’s strengthening.”
Well now it seems that Wilmore is gearing up to get into politics himself.
According to FOX17, the now-retired astronaut was issued paperwork to run as a Republican for governor of Tennessee on February 25. The candidate now has until March 10 to file an official petition with at least 25 signatures from registered voters in the state to qualify for the ballot.
If he does indeed qualify, Wilmore would join a field of GOP candidates including Senator Marsha Blackburn and Congressman John Rose in the May 5 primary election.
In speaking with the local news outlet, Wilmore said that he had been considering a run for governor for “some time” now, and that he felt “privileged to have served, and it’s a privilege to serve.”
Obviously he wouldn’t be the first astronaut to jump into politics after returning from space: John Glenn, who became the first American to orbit the Earth when he piloted the Mercury-Atlas 6 in 1962, would later become the US Senator for Ohio and serve for more than 2 decades before retiring in 1999. (He also flew on the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1998 to become the oldest person to enter Earth’s orbit).
It’ll be interesting to see whether Wilmore has the name recognition to make it a competitive race, and whether his impressive background helps him to victory in a race where Blackburn is the clear frontrunner.
