Washington DC: NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore made history on Thursday with a 6.5-hour spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS), setting a new record.
This was Williams' ninth spacewalk and Wilmore's fifth, with Williams now holding the record for fourth place on NASA's all-time list with 62 hours and 6 minutes of total spacewalk time.
The highest spacewalk record is currently held by Anatoly Solovyev of the Russian Federal Space Agency, with 82:22 hours from 16 EVAs, followed by NASA's Michael Lopez-Alegria with 67:40 hours in 10 EVAs. This list is current as of August 9, 2023.
During the spacewalk, the duo successfully completed their primary objectives, including removing a faulty radio frequency group antenna assembly and collecting surface material samples from the Destiny laboratory and Quest airlock.
Williams and Wilmore have been stuck on the ISS since June 2024, after technical issues with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft prompted NASA to extend their stay.
The International Space Station took it on X to inform that Sunita Williams has broken the record of former astronaut Peggy Whitson. They also attached NASA's link where you can watch the record-breaking spacewalk.
ISS X post caption read, "NASA astronaut Suni WIlliams just surpassed former astronaut Peggy Whitson's total spacewalking time of 60 hours and 21 minutes today. Suni is still outside in the vacuum of space removing radio communications hardware."
Initially scheduled to spend only eight days on the orbiting laboratory, they are now expected to return home in late March aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.
NASA is working closely with SpaceX to ensure the safe return of the astronauts. The development comes after US President Donald Trump announced that SpaceX would "soon" begin a mission to repatriate the two American astronauts.
