NASA’s Sunita Williams Sets New Spacewalk Record on ISS Mission

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams recently set an outstanding record during the expansion mission on the International Space Station (ISS). Space walking is full of major achievements, including deleting key radio communication hardware and collecting microbial life samples from external ISS.

The key highlights of space walking:

  • Space Walking Date: January 30, 2025
  • Duration: 5 hours and 26 minutes
  • Mission goals:
    • Delete the downgraded radio frequency hardware
    • Collect microbial samples from ISS
    • Complete the basic maintenance task of ISS
  • Astroniste involved:
    • Sunita “Suni” Williams (Walking 9th Space)
    • Barry “Butch” Wilmore (Walking Fifth Space)
  • Walking results:
    • Successfully delete radio frequency hardware
    • Williams surpassed Peggy Whitson’s record of a total space walking time of a female astronaut, reaching 62 hours and 6 minutes
    • The total time to walk on space will be the fourth in the historical list of NASA

Williams’ record achievement:

astronaut

Previous record

New record

Chief Space Road

Sunita Williams

Former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson (60 hours 21 minutes)

More than Whitson’s record

62 hours 6 minutes

Details of space walking:

  1. Preparation and task:
  • Time: 7:43 am to 1:09 pm in the United States
  • Objective: Remove the RFs (RFG) and microbial life sample collection
    • In the previous space walking (April 2023 and October 2023), RFG’s deletion mission has been tried, but it has not succeeded due to technical problems.
    • In the end, Williams and Wilmore had made several attempts to succeed with “a little brute force”.
  • Microbial search:
    • Significance: For the first time, NASA astronauts tried to collect microbial samples from external ISS to check the life of space in the vacuum.
    • Discovery: The collection of microorganisms may help understand how creatures survive under extreme space conditions. Since 2014, astronauts have conducted similar studies on the Russian side of ISS.
  • challenge:
    • Due to technical failure, the timetable of the task exceeds the expected duration.
    • Williams and Wilmore initially intended to spend a month on ISS. Because of the Starlineer Mission delay), it was finally stationed for several months.

    Source: NASA

    Williams’ extraordinary journey on the International Space Station (ISS):

    Task name

    release date

    Expected duration

    Actual duration

    Starliner Mission

    June 2024

    1 month

    7 months (undergoing)

    Source: space.com

    Sunita Williams: Legend of Walking in Space

    • General Space Road: 9
    • Ranking: ranked fourth in the list of NASA
    • Ready record:
      • In 2012, the first person to complete the Trinity Trinity in space.
      • A female astronauts surpassed the record of PEGGY Whitson in space.

    Physical impact of extended space tasks:

    • Challenge after 7 months:
      • Williams faced surprising medical challenges after Miss Mission: it is difficult to remember how to walk after long exposure to zero gravity.
      • The key issues raised: As human exploration has promoted the task of Mars, this phenomenon questioned the long -term impact of space travel on the health and liquidity of astronauts.

    Source: space.com

    Conclusion: The new era of space exploration

    • Williams’ achievement: A huge milestone is not only in the record of walking in space, but also the future of long -term human space exploration.
    • Future prospects:
      • With the preparation of the space agency for Mars mission, the insights obtained by astronauts like Williams are essential to understand the long -term impact of zero gravity.
      • With the planned space, future astronauts will continue to explore unknown astronauts and break through the boundaries of space exploration.