Sunita Williams achieved a major milestone during the 92nd US spacewalk
Washington, DC: On January 30, 2025, NASA astronaut Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams achieved a significant milestone by surpassing the record for the longest spacewalk duration held by previous astronaut Peggy Whitson.
“Nasa astronaut Suni Williams just surpassed former astronaut Peggy Whitson’s total spacewalking time of 60 hours and 21 minutes today,” the ISS said on X. Suni continues to remove radio communications equipment outdoors in the vacuum of space.
During the spacewalk, Williams went outside the ISS to do hardware maintenance and gather surface material samples for study from the Quest airlock and Destiny laboratory. Expedition 72 included this spacewalk, which started at about 8 a.m. EST. The 92nd US spacewalk was live-streamed by NASA on both their official website and YouTube.
Astronaut Butch Wilmore, dressed in the unmarked suit, joined Williams, who was dressed in the red-striped suit. This was the ninth spacewalk for Williams and the fifth for Wilmore. It was anticipated that the spacewalk would take around six and a half hours. On September 23, 2024, both astronauts arrived at the ISS as part of Expedition 72.
Elon Musk, the creator of SpaceX, had sparked controversy earlier in the week when he made remarks about the predicament of two astronauts, Wilmore and Williams, who had been on board the ISS since June 2024. After their return to Earth was delayed due to technical issues with their Boeing Starliner spacecraft, Musk said on X, “The President has asked SpaceX to bring home the 2 astronauts stranded on the ISS as soon as possible.” We’ll do it. That the Biden administration abandoned them there for so long is terrible.
“I have asked SpaceX founder Elon Musk to go get the two brave astronauts who have been virtually abandoned in space by the Biden administration,” wrote former President Donald Trump on Truth Social in response to the Biden administration’s “abandonment” of the astronauts. On the @Space Station, they had been waiting for many months. Elon will arrive shortly. I hope everything stays secure. “Good luck, Elon!”
Wilmore and Williams’ designation as “stranded” has been contested, however. Although it took longer than expected, the astronauts were never in danger and could have returned at any moment using a SpaceX Crew Dragon spaceship. At the end of March 2025, Wilmore and Williams are expected to return on the Crew 9 mission, having spent over 300 days in space.
Musk has mentioned making an early return, but this might interfere with ISS operations and leave only one US astronaut to oversee critical duties. The astronauts will remain until March 2025 as Crew 9 prepares to leave, completing the objectives of their extended mission.
