Stranded astronauts to complete spacewalks in January for International Space Station repairs

NASA astronauts who have had unplanned extended stays on the International Space Station (ISS) since this summer are both scheduled to participate in spacewalks in January.NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore arrived at the ISS in June on a Boeing Starliner CST-100 spacecraft during the vehicle’s first test flight with the crew.However, after a series of technical problems with the spacecraft, NASA opted to send the Starliner back to Earth without its astronauts.Williams and Wilmore are waiting for their new ride back to Earth via SpaceX’s Crew Dragon this spring.In the meantime, the veteran astronauts are busy working and living on the ISS with their fellow astronauts and Russian cosmonauts.Like vehicles on Earth, the more than 25-year-old space station requires regular maintenance.

Humans have been living and working on the ISS since 2000.On Thursday, Williams and NASA astronaut Nick Hague suited up and exited the space station airlock at 8 a.m.ET to replace a rate gyro assembly that helps control the orientation of the ISS, as well as other tasks, including adding patches to cover damaged areas of light filters for the NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) X-ray telescope.Williams and Hague wrapped up their spacewalk around 2 p.m., finishing ahead of schedule and getting in some “get-ahead tasks.”On completing the spacewalk, Williams took a minute to wish her husband back on Earth a happy birthday. The spacewalk marked the 273rd of the orbiting laboratory about 250 miles above Earth.Then, on Jan.

23, Williams will participate in the ninth spacewalk of her career, this time with Wilmore.The pair’s to-do list includes collecting samples of surface materials from outside the ISS to determine if microorganisms can exist there.They will also remove an antenna assembly from the station’s truss and prepare a spare elbow joint for the station’s robotic arm, Canadarm2, in case it needs replacing throughout the remainder of the sta...