NASA Astronauts Complete First Spacewalk after Months in Space

NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore completed their first spacewalk together on Thursday, almost eight months after arriving at the International Space Station (ISS).

The astronauts floated outside the station to do maintenance work and check for any microbes that may have survived after launch. They were supposed to stay just a week when they first arrived last June, but delays with Boeing’s Starliner capsule kept them in space longer.

Now, their mission will be extended until late March or early April, as SpaceX prepares to send their replacements. This was Wilmore’s first spacewalk on this mission, though both astronauts have done spacewalks before.