Two NASA astronauts, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been unexpectedly orbiting Earth for nearly eight months due to a troubled spacecraft return, finally took their first spacewalk together.
NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been stranded in space for almost eight months, are finally embarking on their first joint spacewalk. The duo, both retired Navy captains, floated out of the International Space Station to perform crucial maintenance work on the exterior. They are also tasked with wiping down the station's surface, searching for any signs of microbial life that might have survived the journey from Earth and escaped through vents.
Williams and Wilmore arrived at the space station last June aboard Boeing's Starliner capsule, which, unfortunately, encountered numerous technical difficulties. As a result, NASA opted to return the capsule to Earth empty, leaving the two astronauts stranded in orbit. Their original planned return date was in late 2024, but a SpaceX delay in launching their replacements has pushed their homecoming to late March or early April, extending their mission to a full 10 months. Before this spacewalk, Wilmore had ventured outside the station two weeks ago with another NASA astronaut, marking his first outing on this trip. However, both Williams and Wilmore are seasoned spacewalkers, having accumulated valuable experience during previous space station missions.
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