NASA astronaut Sunita Williams breaks a record
NASA astronaut Sunita Williams is now the woman with the most hours spent in space. Her rival is also still in the running.
NASA astronaut Sunita Williams is attached to a Canadarm2 robotic arm as the International Space Station orbits 418 kilometers above Earth.
(Image: NASA)
NASA astronaut Sunita Williams set a new record on Thursday during a spacewalk at the International Space Station (ISS): she is now the woman with the most hours spent in space.
The spacewalk in question was for maintenance work on the ISS together with her colleague Butch Wilmore. Williams' time account now comprises 62 hours and six minutes, which the US American collected during nine spacewalks.
Williams overtakes Whitson
She has thus overtaken Peggy Whitson, who currently has a total time of 60 hours and 21 minutes on corresponding missions, as NASA announced in an X-Post. However, Whitson is still the woman with the most extravehicular activities – ten in total.
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However, the race between Williams and Whitson could continue. Although Whitson no longer works as an astronaut for NASA, she does work for the private space company Axiom. And she is to go back to the ISS and lead the "Axiom Mission 4" mission. An exact date has not yet been set, but according to Axiom it will take until at least the spring of this year. Then the record could be topped again.
(nen)
