Two NASA astronauts working outside of the International Space Station on Thursday (Jan. 30) were able to finally remove a faulty radio communications unit, succeeding where two previous spacewalks had been unsuccessful.
The extended work needed to free the radio frequency group (RFG) by Sunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore came at a cost, though, as the two ran out of time to accomplish all of the tasks planned for Thursday’s EVA (extravehicular activity).
Williams and Wilmore, who launched together on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft and are serving together on the station’s Expedition 72 crew, began the 5-hour and 26-minute spacewalk at 7:43 a.m, EST (1243 GMT). After configuring their tethers and tools, Wilmore moved to the RFG work site while Williams rode the Canadarm2 robotic arm to meet him at the S-band antenna on the starboard (or right-hand) side of the station’s backbone truss.
The removal of the failed RFG, a key component of the station’s primary command and data antenna assembly, was first attempted in April 2023, when a central latching bolt refused to release. NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen, who was on that earlier spacewalk, was in Mission Control on Thursday to advise Williams and Wilmore on the renewed attempt.
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A second spacewalk in October 2023 was also tasked with trying to retrieve the RFG, but only had enough time to inspect it. Two more attempts in June 2024 were cut short before the EVAs could even get underway due to spacesuit equipment issues.
“There it goes, it’s free,” radioed Williams as the RFG finally came free. “Holy moly!”
“It was jiggle, jiggle, jiggle, jiggle, and then it came loose,” Wilmore said later, soon after the spacewalk ended.
Ultimately, Williams and Wilmore needed to try several different approaches and “a little bit of brute force” to remove the unit, exceeding the three hours that Mission Control had originally allocated for the task. The two spent the rest of their time outside carefully moving the RFG back into the Quest airlock so it can be returned to Earth for refurbishment.
“I know we were not the first — we were not even the second crew to do this — but somehow … we were able to get it done,” Williams later said before the end of the spacewalk.
Williams then returned to the RFG worksite to clean up and collect tools, while Wilmore used swabs to collect potential samples of microbial life on the outside of the airlock. Since 2014, cosmonauts have gathered similar samples from the Russian side of the station, which scientists have later claimed included microorganisms capable of surviving in the vacuum of space. This was the first time NASA has conducted its own such study.
Out of time and with her spacesuit showing a slight increase in battery amperage, Williams was waved off from the last of Thursday’s planned tasks, preparing a spare elbow joint for the Canadarm2 robotic arm in the event it is needed for a replacement. That work will wait for a future spacewalk.
The two astronauts reentered the airlock and began its repressurization, marking an official end of the spacewalk at 1:09 p.m. EST (1809 GMT).
Thursday’s EVA was Wilmore’s fifth, bringing his total time spacewalking to 31 hours and 2 minutes.
It was the ninth outing for Williams, who has now logged 62 hours and 6 minutes. During the EVA, she surpassed the record for the most time spent in the vacuum of space by a woman. The previous total of 60 hours and 21 minutes was set by now-former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson in 2017. Whitson still holds the record for the most spacewalks by a woman at 10.
Williams now ranks fourth on the worldwide list of all spacewalkers by time spent on EVA.
Thursday’s spacewalk was the 274th EVA in support of assembly, maintenance and upgrade of the International Space Station since 1998.
