RoundupReads Honk If You Love Butch and Suni: Johnson Hosts Sweet Sendoff for NASA’s Boeing CFT Crew

Honk If You Love Butch and Suni: Johnson Hosts Sweet Sendoff for NASA’s Boeing CFT Crew

by Linda Grimm | 2024-04-29

Supportive cheers and car horns provided the soundtrack for NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore as they departed for Kennedy Space Center on April 25, ahead of their launch to the International Space Station on NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission. Team members from the Johnson Space Center lined the road leading to the Ellington Field gate to wave goodbye to the crew and wish them a safe journey to the orbital outpost.

A group of people hold a large banner reading Godspeed, Butch and Suni while standing on the side of a road.
Employees of NASA’s Johnson Space Center hold a signed banner with a supportive message for NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test crew members Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore. Credit: NASA/Robert Markowitz

The group, which included Johnson Associate Center Director Donna Shafer, held up handmade posters and a special banner signed by center leadership and hundreds of Johnson employees. Wilmore stopped to toss a CFT hat into the crowd before he and Williams passed through the gate. The astronauts also greeted and provided CFT swag to the Ellington Field ground support crew before boarding the T-38 jets that they flew to Kennedy – a nod to their piloting days as U.S. Navy captains.

Two astronauts in blue flight suits pose for a picture with airfield ground crew members in front of a T-38 jet.
NASA astronauts Suni Williams (left) and Butch Wilmore (right) pose for a photograph with Ellington Field ground crew before flying T-38 jets to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: NASA/Robert Markowitz

The pair arrived at Kennedy around noon Central and was welcomed by Kennedy Associate Director Jennifer Kunz, Commercial Crew Program Deputy Manager Dana Hutcherson, Johnson Deputy Director Stephen Koerner, and Boeing leadership.

Williams and Wilmore are scheduled for liftoff at 9:34 p.m. Central on Monday, May 6, from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. They will be the first to launch aboard the Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on a ULA (United Launch Alliance) Atlas V rocket to the International Space Station.

Enjoy more pictures from the Boeing CFT crew sendoff below.

Two astronauts prepare to fly on T-38 jets.
Two astronauts prepare to fly on T-38 jets.
Two astronauts prepare to fly on T-38 jets.
Two astronauts prepare to fly on T-38 jets.
Two astronauts prepare to fly on T-38 jets.
Two astronauts prepare to fly on T-38 jets.
Two astronauts prepare to fly on T-38 jets.
Two astronauts prepare to fly on T-38 jets.
Two astronauts prepare to fly on T-38 jets.
Two astronauts prepare to fly on T-38 jets.
Two astronauts prepare to fly on T-38 jets.
Two astronauts prepare to fly on T-38 jets.
Two astronauts prepare to fly on T-38 jets.
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