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As NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore launches aboard Boeing\u2019s Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station Monday, May 6 on its first crewed flight, one of his best friends will have played a key role in getting him there.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Billy Stover, chief safety officer for NASA\u2019s Commercial Crew Program, and Wilmore have been friends for more than 40 years. The pair\u2019s friendship began in the 1980s at Tennessee Tech University on the football field.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would do weight training and we would get paired up,\u201d said Stover. \u201cIf he did 50 sit-ups, I had to do 55. Or we would see how many sit-ups we could get done in 30 seconds or vice versa \u2013 we were not kind to each other.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
As a representative in the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance\u2019s technical authority, Stover oversees coordination and integration within NASA\u2019s Commercial Crew Program, enacting quality processes and conducting risk analysis to ensure the safety of crews to and from low Earth orbit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wilmore and NASA astronaut Suni Williams will fly Starliner, lifting off aboard United Launch Alliance\u2019s Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, for about a one week stay aboard the space station, in support of NASA\u2019s Boeing Crew Flight Test.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Stover says he gets goosebumps thinking about the years of work and excitement that have gone into the upcoming crew flight test launch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI will tell you that I\u2019m a little bit calmer than I have been for probably the past two years,\u201d Stover said. \u201cThe team has been amazing in working through each challenge and test anomalies to get us to the right place to execute the launch. What we do every single day makes history.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Both men briefly lost touch after college when their careers took them in different directions, as Wilmore became a Navy pilot and Stover pursued engineering. In 2002, Stover ran into Wilmore walking out of the Launch Control Center during a space shuttle launch campaign at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and reconnected.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since then, Stover and Wilmore find the opportunity to speak weekly or as often as they can \u2013 even if one of them happens to be off planet. In 2014, Wilmore made time to call Stover at Christmas while aboard the space station for Expedition 41.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOn my answering machine was a message from Barry calling me from the space station to wish me and my family a \u2018Merry Christmas.\u2019\u201d Stover said. \u201cI saved that message for three years. How many people get a call from space?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
When Wilmore received the 2018 Theodore Roosevelt award at the NCAA Awards Presentation,\u00a0the association\u2019s highest honor exemplifying the ideals of college sports, Stover attended. Former astronaut and U.S. Sen. John Glenn, astronaut Sally Ride, and flight director Christopher C. Kraft Jr. also received the award.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe interjected me in his acceptance speech, which was really special,\u201d Stover said. \u201cWe\u2019re like brothers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Their 40-year friendship expanded beyond football and space. Now with a son in the Navy, Stover says that Wilmore is more than a friend; he\u2019s also a mentor.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe both have a wife and kids, similar backgrounds, and values on how we manage ourselves,\u201d Stover said. \u201cBarry\u2019s turned into a great mentor for my oldest son, who\u2019s an officer in the Navy.\u201d Wilmore is a retired U.S. Navy captain.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Both men have a love for theme parks and frequently plan trips to them. In fact, Stover\u2019s own travel plans will take him away from Florida and he won\u2019t see NASA\u2019s Boeing Crew Flight Test launch. Instead, he\u2019ll be on a transatlantic cruise that was booked more than a year ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a weird feeling that I\u2019m not going to be here physically,\u201d Stover said. \u201cGodspeed to him and Suni. I\u2019m always here for them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Stover and Wilmore no longer use that competitive spirit against each other but still work out from time to time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn his position, he\u2019s a lot more disciplined and in better condition than me, but now he\u2019s nice about it,\u201d Stover said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
NASA\u2019s Commercial Crew Program is working with the American aerospace industry to launch astronauts on American rockets and spacecraft from American soil to the International Space Station. This innovative approach is helping the agency maintain a human presence in low Earth orbit and enable exploration to the Moon in preparation for Mars for the benefit of humanity.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n