Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams began a spacewalk on the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday evening at 6:30 pm Indian time. Astronaut Butch Wilmore was also with her during this time.

During this spacewalk which lasted for about 5.5 hours, both of them cleaned the outside of the ISS and also collected samples for microorganism experiment. According to reports, this will reveal whether the microorganisms are alive on the ISS or not. Apart from this, the broken antenna was also separated from the ISS.

NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore on Thursday stepped out of the International Space Station (ISS) for a 5.5-hour spacewalk, setting a new record, the US space agency said.

Sunita Williams now also holds the record for total spacewalk time of 62 hours, 6 minutes, fourth on NASA's all-time list.

Sunita did spacewalk for the second time in 15 days

This is Sunita Williams' second spacewalk in 15 days. On January 16, she did a spacewalk for 6 and a half hours with astronaut Nick Hague. So far, Sunita Williams has done 9 spacewalks. This is Butch Wilmore's fifth spacewalk.

These two astronauts were supposed to do a spacewalk on January 23 but this date was postponed for 7 days for their preparation.

Samples collected for microbial experiments

NASA said that if microorganisms are found there, the experiment will help in understanding how they survive and reproduce in the space environment. An attempt will also be made to know how far they can travel in space. It will also be investigated whether these microorganisms will be able to survive on planets like the Moon and Mars.

The US space agency said Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore completed their primary objectives, which included removing the Radio Frequency Group Antenna Assembly from the station's truss and collecting samples of surface material for analysis from the Destiny laboratory and Quest airlock.

Meanwhile, NASA on Wednesday said it is working with billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX to safely bring back home two astronauts (Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore), who have been stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) for months, "as quickly as possible."

Veteran astronauts Wilmore and Williams arrived at the ISS in June 2024 aboard Boeing's Starliner. They were supposed to spend only eight days on the orbiting lab, but technical problems on the spacecraft forced NASA to change its plans. The US space agency had announced in August that Boeing's rival SpaceX would bring the crew home in February. But their return was pushed back further as SpaceX designed a new spacecraft.

The development comes a day after US President Donald Trump said SpaceX will "soon" launch a mission to bring back the two American astronauts.

What is NASA's next plan

• NASA and SpaceX are working quickly to bring the agency's SpaceX Crew-9 astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore back safely as soon as possible.
• Along with this, preparations are also being made for the launch of Crew-10 to complete the handover between missions.
• NASA and SpaceX aim to launch Crew-10 to the ISS before the end of March 2025.
• The SpaceX Crew-9 mission with NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov could return to Earth only after Crew-10 arrived at the laboratory.