Williams, the station's commander, tackled some overdue outdoor repair work alongside NASA's Nick Hague. They emerged as the orbiting lab sailed 260 miles above Turkmenistan.
LIVE: Two @NASA_Astronauts, Nick Hague and Suni Williams, step outside of the @Space_Station to support station upgrades, including repairs to our NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) X-ray telescope. https://t.co/0VP296OmRY
Williams got a close-up look at the SpaceX capsule that will bring her home this spring, floating just a few feet away from the parked vessel as she struggled with a chore. She eventually prevailed without damaging her ride.
Plans called for Williams to head back out next week with Butch Wilmore on another spacewalk. The two launched aboardBoeing’s new Starliner capsulelast June on what should have been a weeklong test flight.
But Starliner trouble dragged out their return, and NASA ordered the capsule to come back empty. ThenSpaceX delayedthe launch of their replacements, meaning the two won’t be home until late March or early April — ten months after launching.
It was the first spacewalk by NASA astronauts since an aborted one last summer. U.S. spacewalks were put on hold after water leaked into the airlock from the cooling loop for an astronaut's suit. NASA said the problem has been fixed.
This was the eighth spacewalk for Williams, who has lived on the space station before.
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