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NASA astronaut Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore on Thursday stepped out of the International Space Station (ISS) for 5.5-hour spacewalk, setting a new record, the US space agency said.
This was Ms Williams' ninth spacewalk and mR Wilmore's fifth.
Ms Williams now also holds a record of 62 hours, 6 minutes of total spacewalk time, fourth on NASA's all-time list.
Ms Williams and Mr Wilmore completed their primary objectives, including 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, US space agency said.
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
Meanwhile, NASA on Wednesday said that it was working with billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX to safely return the two astronauts (Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore), who are for months struck at International Space Station (ISS), back home "as soon as practical."
Veteran astronauts Wilmore and Williams arrived at the ISS in June 2024 aboard Boeing's Starliner. They were due to spend only eight days on the orbiting laboratory, but technical problems on the spacecraft prompted NASA to change plans. The US space agency announced in August that Boeing rival SpaceX would bring the crew home in February. But their return was further postponed due to SpaceX preparing a new spacecraft.
The development came a day after US President Donald Trump said that SpaceX would "soon" begin a mission to repatriate the two American astronauts.