NASA astronaut makes history, sets record as woman who spent most hours outside spacecraft in space

NASA astronaut Suni Williams has set a record as the woman with the most hours spent outside a spacecraft in space.

Williams and Butch Wilmore, the astronauts who have been unexpectedly stuck at the space station for months after arriving in June aboard the Starliner spacecraft, conducted a spacewalk on Thursday.

For nearly five and a half hours, the pair removed the radio communication device and collected potential microbial samples for analysis.

And when all was said and done, Williams had achieved a historic milestone. Over her nine total spacewalks, she has now spent 62 hours and 6 minutes in space outside the spacecraft – more than any other woman in the world.

It is known that the spacewalk lasted from 7:43 am to 13:09 pm and was broadcast on NASA+ and NASA's YouTube channel.

For Williams, who wore a white suit with red stripes, the spacewalk was the ninth of her career and the second of January, writes yahoonews, the Telegraph reports.

While Wilmore, who was wearing an unmarked suit, was making his fifth spacewalk, often called an extravehicular activity in space agency parlance.

It is reported that the spacewalk was the 274th overall that astronauts on the International Space Station have undertaken.

During the spacewalk, Williams and Wilmore removed a radio frequency array antenna array from the station's enclosure before turning their attention to collecting samples of surface material from both the Destiny laboratory module and the Quest airlock, where crew members exit the station.

The material will be analyzed inside the station to see if microorganisms exist on the outside of the orbital complex.

The previous record of 60 hours and 21 minutes was set in 2017 by former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson.

According to NASA, Whitson's 10 career spacewalks are still the most ever completed by a woman.

After Thursday, only three other people in the world have spent more cumulative time on spacewalks than Williams.

The world's most experienced spacewalker is cosmonaut Anatoly Solovyev, according to the European Space Agency.

With 16 spacewalks and a total of 77 hours and 41 minutes outside a spacecraft, Solovyev, now 77, holds the record for most spacewalks.

As for the longest spacewalk, that record belongs to NASA astronauts James Voss and Susan Helms, who on March 12, 2011, lasted eight hours and 56 minutes outside the station. /Telegraph/