NASA astronaut Sunita Williams left the ISS for the first time in 8 months, but there is a nuance

After eight months, one of NASA's astronauts has finally left the International Space Station (ISS). However, she is not going home.

The spacewalk, the first since she arrived at the station on June 6, 2024, was due to the need to perform maintenance on the ship. Expedition 72 commander Sunita Williams performed them with astronaut Nick Hague, MailOnline reports.

Their tasks include repairing the equipment that controls the station's orientation, replacing the light filters on the NICER X-ray telescope, and replacing the reflector on the international docking adapter.

In addition, Sunita Williams' second spacewalk is already planned. Together with Barry Wilmore, on January 23, they will remove the antenna assembly of the radio frequency group (a set of components designed to transmit and receive radio waves) and collect surface samples for the analysis of microorganisms.

Each spacewalk is scheduled to last about six and a half hours.

As a reminder, NASA astronauts were stranded in space due to a malfunction of the Boeing Starliner. Engineers discovered numerous problems with the spacecraft. Initially, it was planned that astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams would return to Earth on June 13 after a week on the ISS, but their stay on the station has lasted for 8 months.

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