New York: NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) since June 2024, conducted a record-breaking spacewalk earlier this week.
The duo stepped out of the ISS for a 5.5-hour spacewalk, thus setting a record, NASA stated.
It was Sunita’s ninth spacewalk and Wilmore’s fifth.
Sunita has now recorded 62 hours, 6 minutes of total spacewalk time, which is fourth on NASA’s all-time list.
According to NASA, Sunita and Wilmore achieved their primary objectives during the spacewalk, like removing a radio frequency group antenna assembly from the station’s truss and collecting samples of surface material for analysis from the Destiny laboratory and the Quest airlock.
LIVE: @NASA_Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are taking a spacewalk to maintain @Space_Station hardware and collect samples. Today’s spacewalk is scheduled to start at 8am ET (1300 UTC) and go for about 6.5 hours. https://t.co/6pvzcwPdgs
— NASA (@NASA) January 30, 2025
“NASA astronaut Suni Williams just surpassed former astronaut Peggy Whitson’s total spacewalking time of 60 hours and 21 minutes today. Suni is still outside in the vacuum of space removing radio communications hardware,” ISS posted on X earlier.
Sunita and Wilmore arrived at the ISS last June aboard Boeing’s Starliner. Scheduled to spend just eight days on the orbiting laboratory, technical problems forced NASA to change plans and delay the astronauts’ return to Earth.
The space agency said in August that Elon Musk-founded SpaceX, Boeing’s rival, will bring the astronauts home in February. But their return was further postponed as SpaceX prepared a new spacecraft.
Soon after being sworn in as US President for a second term last month, Donald Trump urged Musk to bring back Sunita and Wilmore soon.
“I have asked SpaceX founder Elon Musk to go get the two brave astronauts who have been virtually abandoned in space by the Biden administration. They have been waiting for many months on @Space Station. Elon will soon be on his way. Hopefully, all will be safe. Good luck Elon!!!” Trump posted on his Truth Social.
NASA said on Wednesday that it was working with SpaceX for the safe return of the two astronauts “as soon as practical.”
