Former Golden Eagle linebacker Barry Wilmore, a member of the TTU Sports Hall of Fame, will pilot the next NASA shuttle mission. He was featured recently in the Tennessean.

Astronaut Barry Wilmore travels from Mt. Juliet to outer space

Wilmore takes the best of town with him into orbit

Barry Wilmore's first word was "why."

That question and a life-long fascination with how things work have lead him on a career path that will carry him into space next month as the 46-year-old U.S. Navy captain pilots the STS-129 mission on the space shuttle Atlantis to the International Space Station. The shuttle is scheduled to launch Nov. 12.

"I was always intrigued by how things work, and I still am," Wilmore said.

Link here to the complete story in The Tennessean