JAKARTA - NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Suni Williams are set to conduct a spacewalk on Thursday, January 16, 2025, as part of Expedition 72. This marks the first spacewalk of the year.
Scheduled to begin at 20:00 WIB, Hague and Williams will activate their spacesuit batteries in preparation for the mission. They will exit the Quest airlock of the International Space Station (ISS) to perform essential repairs on astrophysical equipment, including the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) and the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer.
The spacewalk will last approximately six and a half hours, requiring the astronauts to operate in a vacuum. Prior to the event, they configured their spacewalk equipment within the Quest module, with assistance from NASA Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore, who charged and installed lithium-ion batteries.
During the spacewalk, Hague will focus on enhancing spacecraft safety and supporting long-term mission objectives. He will open the Combustion Integrated Rack and exchange material samples to study combustion in microgravity. Williams, on the other hand, will install new hardware to supply water to the Advanced Plant Habitat. This initiative aims to investigate how varying water levels affect plant growth, crucial for sustaining crew members during extended missions in space.