Nasa astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore made history on Thursday after completing a 5.5-hour spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS), the US space agency announced. Their efforts set a new record and added to Williams’ already impressive spacewalking achievements.
This marked Williams’ ninth spacewalk and Wilmore’s fifth. With this latest mission, Williams now holds a total of 62 hours and 6 minutes of spacewalk time, making her fourth on Nasa’s all-time list for most time spent outside the ISS.
During the spacewalk, the astronauts successfully removed a radio frequency group antenna assembly from the station’s truss and collected surface material samples from the Destiny laboratory and the Quest airlock for analysis, Nasa said.
Nasa and SpaceX working on astronauts’ return
Meanwhile, Nasa confirmed on Wednesday that it is collaborating with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to bring Williams and Wilmore safely back to Earth “as soon as practical.” The two astronauts have been stranded on the ISS for months due to technical issues with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which originally transported them to the station in June 2024.
Originally scheduled for just an eight-day mission, the astronauts’ stay at the ISS was extended indefinitely after Nasa encountered problems with Starliner. In August, the agency decided that Boeing rival SpaceX would handle their return mission, initially set for February. However, further delays have pushed back their homecoming as SpaceX prepares a new spacecraft for the task.
The latest update comes a day after US President Donald Trump said that SpaceX would “soon” undertake a mission to repatriate the stranded astronauts.
