One of the two astronauts trapped by NASA got a welcome change of scenery Thursday, stepping out on her first spacewalk since arriving at the International Space Station more than seven months ago.
Station manager Suni Williams had to deal with overdue outdoor repairs along with colleague Nick Hague. They surfaced when the orbiting laboratory sailed 420 kilometers above Turkmenistan.
“I'm coming out,” Williams said on the radio.
Plans called for Williams to rematch next week with Butch Wilmore.
Williams and Wilmore launched aboard Boeing's new Starliner capsule last June on what was supposed to be a week-long test flight. But the Starliner problem delayed the return, and NASA ordered the capsule to be returned empty.
Then SpaceX delayed the launch of the others, meaning the two won't be home until late March or early April – 10 months after their launch.
Walking among the stars
This was the first spacewalk by NASA astronauts since one was canceled last summer. US space shuttles were halted after water entered the airlock from the cooling loop for an astronaut's suit. NASA said the problem has since been resolved.
This was the eighth spacewalk for Williams, who has lived in the space station before, and the fourth for Hague.
Hague and Williams were set to replace the station's hardware, such as a planar reflector, and repair the station's Neutron Star Interior Composition ExploreR (NICER) C-ray telescope. Part of that process involves placing wedge-shaped patches in specific locations on the telescope to reduce unwanted sunlight from interfering with the X-ray measurements. he will give
The spacewalk, which began at 8 a.m. ET, will last about 6½ hours, and will be the 273rd ISS maintenance spacewalk.
