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Thousands of alumni cheered for Tennessee baseball in the final game of the College World Series, but only one was 250 miles above Omaha.
Butch Wilmore, an astronaut who graduated with a master’s degree in aviation systems from the UT Space Institute in 1994, rooted from the International Space Station for No. 1 Tennessee (59-13) to beat No. 3 Texas A&M (53-14).
Wilmore and fellow astronaut Suni Williams led the first NASA crewed mission on the Boeing Starliner spacecraft, which launched June 5 after several failed launches and delays.
UT Chancellor Donde Plowman posted a photo of Wilmore taken on the International Space Station wearing a University of Tennessee College of Engineering shirt and holding a sign that reads, “Go Volunteers!!!! Whoop’em all in Omaha!!!!”
“I often say we have the best fans in the country, but today, #VolNation is out of this world – literally!” Plowman said in the June 24 post on X.
Wilmore, 61, also holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in electrical engineering from Tennessee Tech University. Since landing at the space station, he joined the university for a video chat.
What’s happening with Starliner?
Boeing and NASA are “adjusting” the return home of two astronauts from the International Space Station on the Starliner spacecraft.
Williams and Wilmore were scheduled to stay at the ISS for just a week after docking there June 6. Now they aren’t expected to make the trip back to Earth until at least early July, following two scheduled spacewalks and continued assessments of reported issues on the spacecraft, Boeing announced in a June 21 update.
The space organizations have not announced a new return date after most recently saying the astronuats might come back Tuesday or Wednesday.
USA TODAY contributed to this report.
Daniel Dassow is a growth and development reporter focused on technology and energy. Phone 423-637-0878. Email daniel.dassow@knoxnews.com.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee baseball has a huge fan in space: Astronaut ‘Butch’ Wilmore