One of the two astronautsstranded at the International Space Station(ISS) has taken their first space walk since arriving at the station nearly seven months ago.

Suni Williams went for the space walk on Thursday, Jan. 16 to help NASA’s Nick Hague with some outside repair work, according to theAssociated Press.

“I’m coming out,” Williams, 59, said as she exited the ISS for the first time since arriving there seven months prior with fellow astronaut Butch Wilmore.

The pair originally entered space in June 2024 for what was supposed to be a weeklong test flight of a Boeing Starliner capsule, but their return got delayed after their spacecraft experiencedmechanical issuesand was eventuallysent back homewithout them.

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams posing for a portrait inside the vestibule between the forward port on the International Space Station’s Harmony module and Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on 13 June 2024.NASA HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

A handout picture made available by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on 24 August 2024 shows NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts (from top) Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams posing for a portrait inside the vestibule between the forward port on the International Space Station’s Harmony module and Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on 13 June 2024. NASA announced on 24 August that it will return Boeing’s Starliner to Earth without astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams aboard the spacecraft. The Starliner is expected to depart from the space station and make a ‘controlled autonomous re-entry and landing’ in early September. The agency said the uncrewed return will allow it and Boeing to continue gathering testing data on Starliner during its upcoming flight home. Wilmore and Williams flew to the ISS in June aboard NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test. The two astronauts will continue their work as part of the Expedition 71/72 crew through February 2025 and fly home aboard a Dragon spacecraft with two other crew members assigned to the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission, NASA added.

NASA HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Originally, NASA was hoping to have the two astronauts back on Earthin February, but their return was delayed last monthuntil at least March.

NASA previously saidit is working with SpaceX to “complete processing” on a new Dragon spacecraft for the mission. Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program said the process “is a painstaking endeavor that requires great attention to detail.”

Suni Williams works outside the International Space Station during a spacewalk Thursday, Jan. 16

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This was the eighth space walk of Williams’ career, according to the AP.

In November 2024, Williams toldNBC Newsthat she and Wilmore were “feeling good, working out [and] eating right” while stuck at the ISS.

“It’s just awesome,” she said at the time. “We have a lot of fun up here too. People who are worried about us, really, don’t worry about us … we’re a happy crew up here.”

source: people.com