Published January 31, 2025
By : Staff Writer
NASA's Johnson Space Center announced on Thursday that astronaut Suni Williams now holds a woman's record for total spacewalk time, surpassing the one set by former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson.
"Handing the baton off to Suni for most spacewalking time for a female. Records are meant to be broken! Congratulations!" wrote Peggy Whitson on social media.
Williams’ 62 hours and six minutes record was reached upon completing her ninth spacewalk earlier in the day. Whitson's spacewalking time was 60 hours and 21 minutes.
A video of Williams performing a spacewalk, where she removed radio communications hardware, was shared on social media. According to NASA, Williams and Butch Wilmore concluded their spacewalk at 1:09 p.m. EST on January 30.
This was Williams' ninth spacewalk and Wilmore's fifth, making it the 274th spacewalk conducted to support the space station's assembly, maintenance, and upgrades.
Williams' total of 62 hours and 6 minutes of spacewalk time places her fourth on NASA's all-time list for total spacewalking time.
During this spacewalk, Williams and Wilmore completed their primary objectives, which included removing a radio frequency group antenna assembly from the station's truss and collecting surface material samples for analysis from the Destiny laboratory and the Quest airlock.
Williams has been on the International Space Station since June 2024.
Handing the baton off to Suni for most spacewalking time for a female. Records are meant to be broken! Congratulations @Astro_Suni! https://t.co/BEyqUI7KWo
— Peggy Whitson (@AstroPeggy) January 30, 2025
LIVE: @NASA_Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are taking a spacewalk to maintain @Space_Station hardware and collect samples. Today's spacewalk is scheduled to start at 8am ET (1300 UTC) and go for about 6.5 hours. https://t.co/6pvzcwPdgs
— NASA (@NASA) January 30, 2025
NASA astronaut Suni Williams now holds the record for total spacewalk time by a woman, surpassing the one set by former @NASA_Astronauts Peggy Whitson. Williams’ 62 hours and six minutes record was reached upon completing her ninth spacewalk today.
— NASA's Johnson Space Center (@NASA_Johnson) January 30, 2025
Congratulations, Suni! 📷 pic.twitter.com/zphdJjhcyr
The station was orbiting above London, England, as the Canadarm2 robotic arm maneuvered @Astro_Suni to continue removing radio communications hardware. Watch now on @NASA+. https://t.co/OD43nAlf5m pic.twitter.com/qL9ljPGo4X
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) January 30, 2025
#Starliner pilot @Astro_Suni spoke to students at her namesake school, Sunita L. Williams Elementary, from @Space_Station.
— Boeing Space (@BoeingSpace) June 21, 2024
Those students then had their own space experience via our Future U STEM program.
You can also experience Future U: https://t.co/32Jczsz6FM pic.twitter.com/AhbDh0CuRF
