Sunita Williams becomes the most experienced female spacewalker in history
What's the story
NASA astronaut Sunita Williams has broken the record for the longest time spent in space by a woman. The record was achieved during Thursday's extravehicular activity (EVA) or spacewalk, which lasted for 5 hours 26 minutes. Along with her colleague Barry Wilmore, Williams successfully removed a malfunctioning radio communications unit from the International Space Station (ISS).
Mission details
Williams and Wilmore's spacewalk mission
The spacewalk mission, which started at 7:43am EST (6:13pm IST), was one of the tasks assigned to the Expedition 72 crew on the ISS. Williams and Wilmore, who reached the station aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, had to employ different techniques and "a little bit of brute force" to remove the faulty unit. The task took longer than anticipated, exceeding three hours initially allotted by Mission Control. The astronauts officially concluded the spacewalk at 1:09pm EST (11:39pm IST).
Past efforts
Previous attempts to remove faulty unit
The removal of the defective radio frequency group (RFG), an essential component of the station's primary command and data antenna assembly, had been attempted unsuccessfully in April 2023 and October 2023. Two more attempts in June 2024 were also unsuccessful due to spacesuit equipment issues. However, Williams and Wilmore succeeded in removing it on their mission, marking a major achievement for the team.
Record broken
Surpassing previous spacewalk record
The recent EVA was Wilmore's fifth, taking his total time spent spacewalking to 31 hours and two minutes. For Williams, it was her ninth outing, during which she racked up a total of 62 hours and six minutes in space. This achievement broke the previous record of 60 hours and 21 minutes set by former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson in 2017.
Twitter Post
WIlliams surpassed Whitson's total spacewalking time
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. Watch now on @NASA+... https://t.co/OD43nAlf5mpic.twitter.com/N5Mr0qQWJP
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) January 30, 2025
Global ranking
Williams now ranks 4th on global spacewalkers list
With her latest achievement, Williams now ranks fourth on the global list of all spacewalkers by time spent on EVA. This was also the 274th EVA performed in support of assembly, maintenance, and upgrade of the ISS since 1998. Even though some tasks were postponed due to time constraints and a slight increase in battery amperage in Williams's spacesuit, the mission was a success.