NASA Astronaut Suni Williams Smashes Spacewalking Document Whereas ‘Stranded’ in House

NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore have been making headlines since June of final yr, when their eight-day mission to the Worldwide House Station turned into an eight-month ordeal (and counting) after Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft experienced technical issues. Now, Williams and Wilmore shall be happy to listen to that we’re lastly speaking about them for a unique cause (that isn’t tabloid rumors about William’s health).

On January 30, Williams and Wilmore accomplished a 5.5-hour spacewalk exterior the ISS, marking the area station’s 274th spacewalk in assist of meeting, upkeep, and upgrades, in response to a NASA statement. The additional vehicular exercise (EVA) brings Williams’ complete spacewalking time to 62 hours and 6 minutes: a brand new report for complete spacewalking time by a girl astronaut and the fourth longest cumulative time total.

“NASA astronaut Suni Williams simply surpassed former astronaut Peggy Whitson’s complete spacewalking time of 60 hours and 21 minutes at present,” learn an Worldwide House Station X post. On the time, Suni was “nonetheless exterior within the vacuum of area eradicating radio communications {hardware}.”

That is the second time Williams has damaged the report for cumulative spacewalking time by a girl astronaut. Now in second place, Peggy Whitson surpassed Williams’ earlier report in 2017. With ten EVAs underneath her belt, Whitson nonetheless holds the world record for probably the most spacewalks by a girl.

.@NASA_Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore wrapped up at present’s spacewalk at 1:09pm ET (6:09pm UTC) at present after spending 5 hours and 26 minutes eradicating radio communications {hardware} and trying to find microbes. https://t.co/Tyo8a2ncos

— Worldwide House Station (@Space_Station) January 30, 2025

The current spacewalk was Williams’ ninth and Wilmore’s fifth. The target of the spacewalk, nevertheless, was not setting a brand new report. Amongst different issues, the astronauts had been tasked with eradicating a radio communications unit and collecting microbiological samples from the exterior of the ISS to see whether or not the station is releasing microorganisms into area, and whether or not these microbes are surviving on the area station exterior.

Different astronauts on earlier spacewalks had tried and did not retrieve the defective radio communications community, however Williams and Wilmore had been in the end profitable, despite the fact that the duty took longer than the three hours that Mission Management had deliberate, in response to Space.com.

“It was jiggle, jiggle, jiggle, jiggle, after which it got here free,” Wilmore stated after the spacewalk ended, as reported by House.com. The EVA introduced him to a complete of 31 hours and a pair of minutes of spacewalking time.

Regardless of President Trump’s unexpected call for Elon Musk to bring the two astronauts back as quickly as attainable, NASA is at the moment nonetheless planning for Williams and Wilmore to return in late March or early April on a SpaceX Dragon craft. As for the concept that the 2 astronauts are in determined want of rescue, this newest EVA strongly suggests in any other case. And who is aware of what different information Williams would possibly break within the meantime?