Alumnus Barry Wilmore to pilot NASA shuttle
Jenda Wilson
Issue date: 11/13/09 Section: News
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Wilmore, a Mt. Juliet native, graduated from Tech in 1985 with his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering. While attending Tech, he played football, and in 2003 was inducted into Tech's "Sports Hall of Fame."
Upon graduating, he applied to the US Navy, but failed the physical due to a football-related knee injury.
Wilmore then made the decision to use his remaining year of football eligibility while attending graduate school.
"Looking back, those [years at Tech] were the hardest years of my life because the good Lord didn't give me a brain that could grasp things immediately," said Wilmore in a preflight NASA interview. "I had to study, and I had to study hard, and as I look back, I was either studying or I was on the football field."
After proving himself healthy in several physicals, the Navy accepted him.
Wilmore flew 21 missions in Operation Desert Storm while stationed on the USS Kennedy. He also participated in the initial development of the T-45 jet trainer as a Navy test pilot.
He completed his masters in 1994 because he promised his mother he would.
Before being selected by NASA, Wilmore was on exchange with the Air Force as a flight test instructor.
He was chosen as a candidate by NASA in 2000 and had to complete two years of training before becoming an astronaut.
After his training, Wilmore was assigned technical duties dealing with population system issues including the space shuttle solid rocket motor, external tank and main engines.
He found out fall 2008 that he would be piloting space shuttle Atlantis for the STS-129 mission. Wilmore credits Tech with helping him develop the skills that led to this assignment.
"Every tool I need I got at Tech," said Wilmore in an interview with "Visions," Tech's alumni magazine. "From chemistry to physics to football, it all helps me."
Tech has been the school of choice for more than one member of the Wilmore family. Beth Ann Wilmore and James Wilmore, Wilmore's niece and nephew, both attend Tech.
"He has inspired me in many ways," said Beth Ann Wilmore, a sophomore nursing major. "Uncle Barry has always been there to cheer me on and uplift me."
"I had the opportunity to intern at NASA this summer and we [he and Wilmore] ran and lifted weights every morning at 5:30," said James Wilmore, a senior pre-med major. "I also was able to observe him and his crewmates train for their mission. I realized that these men didn't only work hard to get to where they are-they were the best at everything they did."
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