Astronaut Butch Wilmore Having ‘Rough’ Time Adjusting to Gravity

He touched the stars—but now he’s learning to walk again.

After nine long months stranded in orbit, veteran NASA astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore has finally returned to Earth. And while the touchdown off Florida’s coast marked a triumphant end to an unexpected ordeal, the mission home has only begun.

“It’s rough, but he’s a trooper,” said his daughter, 19-year-old college sophomore Daryn Wilmore, in a heartfelt TikTok update to her 36,000 followers. “He’s doing good… but it’s a lot.”

Butch Wilmore, 62, along with fellow astronaut Sunita “Suni” Williams, 59, was supposed to be in space for just 10 days. Instead, they spent nine grueling months aboard the International Space Station after multiple failures with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft left them stranded. Their unexpected return became a national story—and for some critics of the space program, a cautionary tale.

Wilmore and Williams finally landed back on Earth Tuesday, March 18, splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule. They were accompanied by NASA’s Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, concluding the harrowing “Crew 9” mission. From the ocean to Houston, Wilmore was immediately placed under quarantine and medical observation. Muscle atrophy, bone density loss, and cardiovascular strain are just a few of the harsh realities astronauts face after extended time in microgravity.

“You’re looking at someone who’s going to have to relearn how to move on Earth,” said Dr. Kelly Rasmussen, a former NASA flight surgeon. “The toll space takes on the human body is nothing short of brutal.” According to NASA, astronauts lose 1% to 1.5% of their bone density each month while in orbit. That’s on top of significant muscle deterioration and balance issues—problems that can persist for months after returning home.

Daryn Wilmore has become an unexpected voice in the space community, documenting the emotional rollercoaster of waiting for a father who was never supposed to be gone this long. Her TikTok series, titled “My Dad is Stuck in Space,” gave Americans a raw, unfiltered look at how bureaucracy and engineering failures can ground not only rockets—but families.

“There’s been negligence,” she claimed in a February post. “There’s politics. There’s stuff I don’t fully know—but something went wrong.” Despite her frustrations, Daryn says she remained in regular contact with her father throughout the ordeal. She even had a reunion plan: pecan pie, movie nights, and a checklist of “dad things” they’d missed out on.

On Wednesday, just hours after Wilmore returned to Earth, Daryn posted what she called the “final chapter” of her saga. “I’m so happy. I’m so proud,” she said. “Hollywood, call me. This story deserves a movie. We had ‘Apollo 13’—but this could be better.”

While the headlines are fading, the recovery is not. Wilmore will spend the coming weeks undergoing extensive medical testing as part of NASA’s human performance studies. Like all long-duration astronauts, he is still technically part of an active science experiment—his body holding clues about how far, and how long, humans can go in space.

“This isn’t just about Butch,” said aerospace analyst Marlene Diaz. “This is about the future of deep space travel. Mars missions. Lunar colonies. The price for those dreams is being paid by people like him.”

The incident has reignited scrutiny over Boeing’s repeated spaceflight failures. Their Starliner vehicle, once hailed as a challenger to SpaceX, has faced thruster malfunctions, helium leaks, and software bugs that delayed or endangered multiple missions. “We need transparency,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) in a statement to press. “We entrusted American heroes to a spacecraft that wasn’t ready. That demands answers.” NASA has remained tight-lipped on whether Starliner will be grounded. For now, the agency says it is “evaluating the mission and working with Boeing on next steps.”

As the country races toward the 2026 Artemis missions and talks of boots on Mars swirl in the media, Wilmore’s experience is a sobering reminder: space is dangerous. Politics and profit margins only make it more so.

“You train your whole life to go up there,” Daryn said. “But coming back down? That’s the hard part.”

What do you think? Should Boeing be held accountable for leaving astronauts stranded? Are we rushing into space too fast—and for whose benefit? Let us know in the comments.

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