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Commander Williams and Wilmore floated out to perform maintenance work and wipe the International Space Station’s exterior for evidence of any microbes that may still be alive after launching from Earth and escaping through vents.
“Here we go,” AP quoted Wilmore as saying as he emerged 260 miles (420 kilometers) above Spain.
Commander Williams and Wilmore were expected to stay just a week when they arrived at the space station last June. However, their brand new ride, Boeing’s Starliner capsule, encountered so much trouble that NASA decided to return it empty.
That left the two test pilots, both retired Navy captains, in orbit until SpaceX can bring them home. That won’t happen until late March or early April, extending their mission to 10 months because of a SpaceX delay in launching their replacements.
Two weeks ago, Williams performed a spacewalk with another NASA astronaut. It marked Wilmore’s first time outside this trip. Both racked up spacewalks during previous space station stays.
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