Williams & Wilmore: Spacewalk Preparations | International Space Station

Williams & Wilmore Spacewalk Preparations | International Space Station

Two spacesuits are pictured staged inside the International Space Station's Quest airlock ahead of a spacewalk planned for NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore. The two spacewalkers are scheduled to exit the Quest airlock on Jan. 30 to remove a radio frequency group antenna assembly and search for microbes outside the orbital outpost.

NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Don Pettit's reflection is pictured on the helmet visor of a spacesuit in this photograph he took inside the International Space Station's Quest airlock.

A spacesuit is pictured staged inside the International Space Station's Quest airlock ahead of a spacewalk planned for NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore. 

A spacesuit is pictured staged inside the International Space Station's Quest airlock ahead of a spacewalk planned for NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore.

NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Commander Suni Williams works in the Quest airlock readying a pair of spacesuits that she and NASA astronaut Nick Hague will wear during a spacewalk to remove radio communications hardware and search for microbes outside the International Space Station.

The official portrait of the International Space Station's Expedition 72 crew. At the top (from left) are, Roscosmos cosmonaut and Flight Engineer Alexey Ovchinin, NASA astronaut and space station Commander Suni Williams, and NASA astronaut and Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore. In the middle row are, Roscosmos cosmonaut and Flight Engineer Ivan Vagner and NASA astronaut and Flight Engineer Don Pettit. In the bottom row are, Roscosmos cosmonaut and Flight Engineer Aleksandr Gorbunov and NASA astronaut and Flight Engineer Nick Hague.

The official insignia of the Expedition 72 crew that will live and work aboard the International Space Station for long duration space research missions in 2024 and 2025. The simple patch design highlights the configuration of the orbital laboratory with its six roll-out solar arrays augmenting the station's power generation system.

The Expedition 72 crew members have completed preparations for a science and maintenance spacewalk scheduled for Thursday, January 30, 2025. Commander Suni Williams and Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore, two NASA astronauts,  are scheduled to begin a spacewalk at 8am EST on Thursday. They have finished their procedure reviews and spacesuit checks. They also joined NASA Flight Engineers Nick Hague and Don Pettit and practiced on a computer the Canadarm2 robotic arm maneuvers necessary to remove radio communications hardware, the first of two main spacewalking tasks. The second main task will see the two spacewalkers swab sites outside the orbital outpost to collect samples of potential microbes for analysis.

This will be the ninth spacewalk for Williams and the 274th spacewalk in support of space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades.

Expedition 72 Updates:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 72 Crew
Station Commander: Suni Williams
Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineers: Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner, Aleksandr Gorbunov
NASA Flight Engineers: Butch Wilmore, Don Pettit, Nick Hague

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada.

Image Credits: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)/D. Pettit
Image Dates: Jan. 23 & 28, 2025

#NASA #Space #Science #ISS #Earth #Spacewalk #EVA #EVA274 #Astronauts #SuniWilliams #ButchWilmore #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #InternationalCooperation #LongDurationMissions #SpaceLaboratory #HumanSpaceflight #UnitedStates #Expedition72 #STEM #Education