Mike Organ

morgan@tennessean.com

Former Mt. Juliet and Tennessee Tech football player Barry Wilmore, now an astronaut, watched Saturday's game between Alabama and Ole Miss in the International Space Station.

Wilmore, who is a Navy captain, had requested that NASA provide the SEC Network to the space station when he and two Russian cosmonauts left Earth on Sept. 25.

NASA delivered the network, but Wilmore was able to watch Saturday's game, which Ole Miss won 23-17, on the CBS network.

Wilmore, 51, whose nickname is "Butch," was a linebacker at Tennessee Tech and recorded 143 total tackles in his senior season, which ranks third on the school's all-time single-season tackles list.

He made 21 tackles in a game against Austin Peay, which is the second-most in the program's history.

Wilmore, who lived in the Una community until he was 11, was inducted into the Tennessee Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 2003.

This is Wilmore's third time in space.

He previously flew aboard the space shuttle Atlantis in 2000 and in 2009 piloted his first space shuttle flight.

Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 and on Twitter @MikeOrgan@Writer.