A NASA astronaut stranded in orbit has set a new record in spacewalks. Check out the video!

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, who has been aboard the ISS for 7 months instead of the planned eight days, has set a new record for the total time spent in spacewalks among women. This record was achieved when she, along with fellow NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore, exited the International Space Station (ISS) on January 30. The two astronauts successfully removed a faulty communication unit, a task that had eluded them during previous attempts, according to Space.

It is worth noting that Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore have been at the ISS since early June of last year, although their mission was initially scheduled for 8 days. Both NASA astronauts arrived in orbit on the Starliner spacecraft, which returned to Earth without a crew due to identified technical issues. The stranded astronauts are expected to return home in February.

Williams and Wilmore ventured into space to remove a non-functioning communication unit from the space station, a task that had been attempted unsuccessfully by astronauts twice in 2023. They also failed to accomplish this during the summer of 2024.

However, the pair of astronauts succeeded this time, although it took more than 3 hours, despite expectations that it would take less time. The astronauts were unable to complete all their planned tasks due to time constraints. In total, the NASA astronauts spent 5 hours and 26 minutes in spacewalks. They brought the faulty communication unit back to the ISS, which will be sent to Earth for repairs.

At the same time, the astronauts managed to collect samples of microbial life that were located outside the ISS to study how space conditions affect microorganisms.

Sunita Williams has now completed 9 spacewalks during her astronaut career. Considering the duration of her latest mission, she has spent a total of 62 hours and 6 minutes in spacewalks. Thus, Williams has set a new record for the duration of spacewalks among women. The previous record was held by NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, who, after a spacewalk outside the ISS in 2017, accumulated a total of 60 hours and 21 minutes in spacewalks. However, Williams has not surpassed Whitson's record, as Whitson remains the only female astronaut to have completed 10 spacewalks.

Now, Williams ranks fourth in the global list for total spacewalk time outside the ISS.

As for Wilmore, this was his fifth spacewalk, bringing his total time spent in spacewalks to 31 hours and 2 minutes.