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Sunita Williams eyes another massive feat after her first spacewalk journey in 12 years: ‘I’m coming out'
Sunita Williams, one of the two NASA astronauts stranded on the ISS, completed her first spacewalk since arriving onboard seven months ago.
Sunita Williams, one of the two NASA astronauts stranded on the International Space Station, hit another milestone on Thursday as she completed her first spacewalk since arriving onboard seven months ago.
Williams' return to Earth along with her fellow astronaut Butch Wilmore has been postponed due to technical error. The duo was scheduled to occur after a week-long mission in June 2024. Their return is now scheduled for late March or early April.
In order to undertake maintenance on the ISS on Thursday, Williams, an accomplished astronaut who has completed numerous spacewalks during her prior visits, partnered with astronaut Nick Hague.
They duo stepped out to replace a reflector device on an international docking adaptor and repair patch light filters on the NICER X-ray telescope, and equipment that controls station orientation.
The two were supposed to examine connection tools and access points that will be required for future maintenance on the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, an ISS-mounted particle physics testing instrument.
Meanwhile, NASA stated that the eight spacewalk in Williams' career, which lasted six hours, went smoothly and that they completed the tasks they were supposed to do. It was her first spacewalk in 12 years.
Williams radioed, “I'm coming out,” as she geared up for the low-Earth orbit mission.
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Sunita Williams to conduct second spacewalk with Wilmore
Williams will go for a second spacewalk with Wilmore on January 23. They will work collaboratively to take out a radio frequency group antenna assembly, which is a set of parts used for sending and receiving radio waves, and gathering surface samples for the examination of microorganisms.
In addition, they will set up a backup elbow joint for the Canadarm2 robotic arm by arranging it in the best possible way to enable swift repair in the event that it becomes necessary.
Last June, Williams and Wilmore set off on Boeing's Starliner capsule with the goal of finishing a week-long test journey. However, the Starliner capsule's technological problems caused a delay in its return to Earth. NASA instructed the capsule to return empty.
