When you've seen the beauty of space, you might be hard-pressed for a reason to come back down to Earth. Most astronauts say that it's a beauty beyond comparison. But, if you're trapped there, perhaps you'd prefer a more Earthly position - a Governorship, perhaps?
Barry Wilmore, a NASA astronaut, has revealed his plans to run for Tennessee State Governor, as reported by Fox 17. He was given the application to run on February 25, but hasn't filed his official petition with the required amount of signatures.
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March 10 is the deadline to return the application. If he does decide to run, he would join other Republican candidates such as Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Representative John Rose of Tennessee's 6th congressional district.
The astronaut said in a statement that he felt "privileged to have served, and it's a privilege to serve". He added that he considered his "final mission" to be running for state governor, and that he wished to focus on the state that "has given me so much."
So How Did The Astronaut Get Stranded In Space?
Getting to space is no small feat. There have only ever been 74 expeditions to the International Space Station since the launch of its first module in 1998. So, it's no surprise that things would occasionally go wrong.
But why were Wilmore and his fellow astronaut Sunita Williams trapped on the ISS for 80 days?
According to People, at first, they experienced issues with their mechanical thrusters, along with helium leaks. This originally seemed minor, as they assumed NASA could just send up a rescue expedition. But, this wasn't the case.
However, due to constraints from budget concerns as well as delays in sending a new crew to rescue the pair, they ended up spending 286 days in space.
NASA reported that they traveled 121,347,491 miles and completed 4,576 orbits around Earth.
After this experience, Roberson chose to retire in August 2025. And now he's going to run for Tennessee Governor.
We hope his race, or his "final mission", as he calls it, goes well for him!
