New Delhi: The American Space agency NASA’s two astronauts — Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been stuck at the International Space Station (ISS) since last year, did their first spacewalk together.

As per official sources at NASA, Sunita and Butch did the spacewalk to maintain the space station’s hardware and collect samples. The spacewalk started at 8 am ET (1300 UTC) and will go for about 6.5 hours.

During the spacewalk mission, the astronaut duo will remove a radio frequency group antenna assembly from the station’s truss, as per NASA.

They will also collect samples of surface material for analysis from the Destiny laboratory and the Quest airlock to see whether microorganisms may exist on the exterior of the orbital complex.

The two spacewalkers will swab sites outside the orbital outpost to collect samples of potential microbes for analysis.

The duo will also prepare a spare elbow joint for the Canadarm2 robotic arm.

Williams is crew member 1, wearing a suit with red stripes. Wilmore is spacewalk crew member 2, wearing an unmarked suit, NASA said.

Sunita Williams along with Butch Willmore became the first to ride the faulty Starliner, developed by Boeing in June 2024. What began as an eight-day sojourn on the ISS has extended to 238 days now in space for the astronaut duo.

They were earlier expected to return in February, but it was delayed by another month. They are now scheduled to return to Earth onboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule.

Earlier, speaking to students from a US school, Williams revealed what it was like living at the space station and that she has “been trying to remember what it's like to walk”.

"Astronaut Suni Williams is conducting her ninth career spacewalk and Butch Wilmore is conducting his fifth career spacewalk today," NASA said in a blog post.

While NASA is yet to announce a date to bring them back, US President Donald Trump has urged SpaceX founder and billionaire Elon Musk to bring the astronauts back.

NASA replied that it is "working expeditiously" and will bring them back "as soon as it is practical". (With Agency Inputs)