After a long wait, NASA’s astronaut finally gets to do a spacewalk, tackling repairs with a colleague above Turkmenistan
Cape Canaveral: So, guess what? One of NASA’s astronauts finally got to step outside after being stuck in orbit for over seven months! Suni Williams, the station’s commander, was super excited to tackle some outdoor repairs with her buddy Nick Hague. They floated out while the International Space Station zipped 260 miles above Turkmenistan.
Williams was all set to get back out there next week with Butch Wilmore. They launched on Boeing’s Starliner capsule last June, thinking it would be a quick week-long test flight. But, surprise! There were some issues with the Starliner, and NASA had to send it back empty. Plus, SpaceX pushed back the launch of their replacements, so these astronauts won’t be home until late March or early April—almost ten months after they took off!
This was the first spacewalk for NASA astronauts since a previous one got canceled last summer due to a water leak in an astronaut’s suit. Thankfully, NASA fixed that problem. For Williams, this was her eighth spacewalk, and she’s no stranger to life on the space station.
