Jan. 30 (UPI) — Stranded NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore conducted a spacewalk outside of the International Space Center on Thursday for maintenance.
Williams and Wilmore started their spacewalk at 7:43 a.m., EST, to remove a radio frequency group antenna assembly, collect samples of surface material for analysis for microorganisms, and prepare a spare elbow joint for the ISS’s robotic arm.
NASA said the mission marked Williams’s ninth career spacewalk and Wilmore’s fifth spacewalk. They are expected to spend 6 1/2 hours outside of the Space Station on Thursday. On Jan. 16, Williams performed a spacewalk with astronaut Nick Hague.
The Boeing Starliner spacecraft brought Williams and Wilmore to the International Space Station in June, which was supposed to have been a test flight lasting eight to 10 days. Propellant issues with the spaceship forced NASA to make the decision to leave the astronauts at the ISS and return the Boeing craft back to Earth unmanned.
Current plans are to return the two astronauts in March and NASA and SpaceX, the space agency’s private company partner, worked out the limited seating arrangements on planned manned missions.
President Donald Trump inserted himself into the conversation this week, commenting on Truth Social that he asked SpaceX founder Elon Musk to return Williams and Wilmore to Earth as soon as possible and blamed the Biden administration for their extended stay.
