Synopsis
Indian-origin NASA astronaut Sunita Williams made her first spacewalk in 12 years alongside Nick Hague, marking a significant milestone in her career. The mission involves essential maintenance tasks aboard the ISS, including repairs and upgrades.Key Takeaways
- Sunita Williams conducts her first spacewalk in 12 years.
- Mission expected to last around six and a half hours.
- Williams and Hague performing critical maintenance tasks.
- Second spacewalk scheduled for January 23.
- Return mission delayed to March 2025 for safety preparations.
New Delhi, Jan 16 (NationPress) Indian-origin NASA astronaut Sunita Williams exited the International Space Station (ISS) for a spacewalk on Thursday, accompanied by her colleague Nick Hague, as reported by the US space agency.
This marks Williams' first spacewalk in 12 years and her eighth overall, while it is Hague's fourth. The mission, labeled US Spacewalk 91, is projected to last approximately six and a half hours.
Hague is designated as spacewalk crew member 1 and is donned in a suit with red stripes, while Williams, as spacewalk crew member 2, is in an unmarked suit.
The two astronauts are engaged in maintenance activities and hardware replacements, according to NASA.
“NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Sunita Williams are stepping outside the Space Station to facilitate station upgrades, including repairs to our NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) X-ray telescope,” the agency stated.
As detailed in a blog post by NASA, Williams and Hague will be replacing a rate gyro assembly that aids in providing orientation control for the station and installing patches to cover damaged areas of light filters for NICER. Additionally, they will replace a reflector device used for navigational data on one of the international docking adapters.
Furthermore, they will inspect access areas and connector tools designated for future maintenance work on the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer.
NASA has also announced a second spacewalk, scheduled to commence at 8:15 a.m. on January 23.
During this upcoming mission, Wilmore and Williams will detach a radio frequency group antenna assembly from the station’s truss and collect surface material samples for analysis from the Destiny laboratory and the Quest airlock to assess the presence of microorganisms on the exterior of the orbital complex.
They will also get a spare elbow joint ready for the Canadarm2 robotic arm in case it requires replacement.
Meanwhile, NASA has once again postponed the mission to return Williams and Wilmore to Earth, as the launch of SpaceX Crew 10 has been delayed until late March 2025.
Williams and Wilmore made history as the first to travel on the Starliner, developed by Boeing. What began as an eight-day stay on the ISS has now extended to ten months in space for these astronauts, while the defective Starliner, deemed unfit for human travel by NASA, is safely back on Earth.
The astronauts were initially scheduled to return home aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule in February 2025.
However, NASA decided to delay Crew 10 to allow for additional preparation time for the new SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, prioritizing the safety of the astronauts.
Recently, Williams expressed her desire to return home, stating that she “wants to go home because we left our families a little while ago, but we have a lot to do while we’re up here.”
