Sunita Williams undertakes spacewalk to repair space station

Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Flight Engineer Akihiko Hoshide on board the International Space Station today ventured outside the lab to perform maintenance tasks of their home in orbit.

Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams and her Japanese colleague on board the International Space Station on Thursday ventured outside the lab to perform maintenance tasks of their home in orbit.

HT Image

Nasa Flight Engineer Williams and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Flight Engineer Akihiko Hoshide aim to replace a faulty power-switching unit and a failing robotic arm camera of the International Space Station.

This is the fifth spacewalk undertaken by 46-year-old Williams.

On August 20, two Russian astronauts worked outside the orbiting lab to relocate a cargo boom.

But Thursday's spacewalk is the first performed by a US astronaut since the final shuttle mission in July 2011, floridatoday.com reported.

In this still image taken from video, Sunita Williams