Butch Wilmore - He Was Stranded in Space for 286 Days | SRS #287

Butch Wilmore, despite his extensive career as an astronaut, states that if he had only one life to live, he would choose to be a naval aviator flying aircraft off carriers. He finds a higher level of day-to-day job satisfaction in the direct mission focus, camaraderie, and the challenge of operating at the 'point of the spear' in the Navy, compared to the high highs of NASA.

Wilmore states, 'If I could live one life and I could I could be a naval aviator operating off aircraft carriers or I could be an astronaut, what would I choose? There is nothing like operating from and training for the point of the spear on the aircraft carrier... Daytoday my personal personal level of job satisfaction is higher when I was a fleet aviator.'

Wilmore's leadership philosophy across combat missions, test piloting, and commanding spacecraft is predicated on acknowledging he is not the sole expert. He emphasizes surrounding himself with gifted individuals, empowering them to perform their jobs without micromanagement, and ensuring the collective focus remains on the mission. He believes in reassigning individuals if they cannot perform, rather than forcing them into roles where they are not gifted.

When asked about leadership, Wilmore states, 'Leadership in all of those environments are predicated in that I am not the expert... circling yourself with individuals that can do various jobs... and empowering them to do their job well without micromanaging.' He adds, 'what's most important the mission... my focus needs to maintain on what's the most important thing.'

Space technology, even seemingly simple tools, carries immense costs due to the precision, reliability, and unique environmental demands. A space suit is a $5-7 million 'one-man space capsule' with self-contained life support systems, while a drill used on a spacewalk costs approximately $2 million. These items are produced in very small quantities and must function flawlessly in the vacuum of space, where temperatures fluctuate hundreds of degrees.

Wilmore explains, 'The space suit itself... it's in the range of $5 to $7 million because you got to realize these are one-man space capsules shaped like a person.' He adds, 'the drill that we carry... It's about two million because it's got to work every time.'

During the Starliner's first crewed flight, the spacecraft experienced multiple thruster failures, leading to a loss of 6-degrees-of-freedom control. Wilmore describes hearing a 'machine gun' sound from laboring thrusters, indicating reduced thrust. The failures were attributed to Teflon seals deforming due to overheating, restricting propellant flow. This critical situation forced Wilmore to manually control the spacecraft while ground teams worked to reactivate thrusters by disabling fault detection, ultimately leading to a prolonged mission.

Wilmore recounts, 'We lose an afiring thruster on the starboard side... lose a second thruster... lose a third thruster. Now, we're zero fault tolerant to maintaining six degree of freedom control... and then we lose the fourth thruster.' He describes the sound as 'like a machine gun.' He later confirms, 'We lost the fifth thruster.'

NASA initially classified the Starliner thruster failures as a 'high visibility close call' rather than a 'Type A mishap,' which carries different investigation protocols. Wilmore vehemently disagreed, arguing that the loss of 6-degrees-of-freedom control clearly warranted a mishap classification. He expressed frustration that NASA made this assessment without consulting him, the pilot who was actively controlling the spacecraft during the incident. NASA later changed the classification to a Type A mishap.

Wilmore states, 'They called it a low high visibility close call and um I was veheminently against it. How can this be? ... If the NPR says it's has to do with controllability of the spacecraft... Who controlled the spacecraft? That would be me. Don't you think you'd you'd ask the guy that was controlling the spacecraft...?' He confirms, 'They changed it. It is now a type A mishap.'

Mars missions are 'really, really hard' due to several factors. Communication delays can range from 3 minutes to 42 minutes, requiring significant astronaut autonomy. The Martian atmosphere is only 1/100th the density of Earth's, making it extremely difficult to slow down and land heavy spacecraft required for human missions. Current estimates suggest it would require six supersonic parachutes the size of football fields. Additionally, robust in-situ manufacturing (3D printing) for repairs and sustainable food sources are critical, unproven challenges.

Wilmore explains, 'The transit time of communication is 42 minutes. So you're you're basically autonomous.' He adds, 'The Mars atmosphere is about 1/100th the density of our atmosphere... It's almost impossible to slow that amount of mass down... We surmise that it would take six supersonic parachutes the size of six football fields to slow down enough.'