The astronaut is stepping away from NASA shortly after returning from a troubled test flight that left him aboard the ISS months longer than expected.

Wilmore, 62, had already retired from the Navy. Williams, 59, also a retired Navy captain, is still with NASA. She joined Second Lady Usha Vance at Johnson Space Center in Houston earlier this week, taking part in a summer reading challenge for schoolchildren.

Veteran NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore has retired after 25 years of service, after completing the troubled Boeing Starliner mission. Wilmore, who flew on four different spacecraft and logged 464 days in space,