Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore finally step outside ISS temporarily after eight months
After being stranded in space for eight months, NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore conducted their first joint spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday. The duo ventured out to carry out maintenance work and inspect the station’s exterior for any surviving Earth microbes.
As they exited the station, orbiting 420 kilometers above Earth, Wilmore remarked, “Here we go,” in a moment captured on NASA’s livestream on X.
Their extended stay aboard the ISS was the result of technical issues with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which brought them to the station in June 2024 for what was initially planned as an eight-day mission. However, complications forced NASA to alter the return plan, with rival aerospace company SpaceX stepping in to handle their repatriation.
NASA announced on Wednesday that it was collaborating with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to bring the astronauts back "as soon as practical." The statement came a day after former U.S. President Donald Trump suggested that SpaceX would soon undertake a mission to bring them home.
The delay in their return was further extended due to SpaceX preparing a new spacecraft, pushing the timeline beyond the initially scheduled February window. Meanwhile, NASA is also finalizing plans for the launch of Crew-10, which will facilitate a handover between ISS expeditions.
LIVE: @NASA_Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are taking a spacewalk to maintain @Space_Station hardware and collect samples. Today's spacewalk is scheduled to start at 8am ET (1300 UTC) and go for about 6.5 hours. https://t.co/6pvzcwPdgs
— NASA (@NASA) January 30, 2025
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Vijay''s TVK wins an impressive 108 seats in TN polls
Chennai (PTI): Vijay-led TVK secured an impressive 108 seats trouncing the incumbent DMK led by M K Stalin which finished with only 59 seats in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections held on April 23, as per the final tally of the ECI on Tuesday.
The opposition AIADMK won 47 seats while its allies the PMK obtained 4 and the BJP and AMMK clinched one seat each respectively in the election, according to the data available on the Election commission of India's website.
The DMK's allies - the Congress managed to win 5 seats, the IUML, CPI, CPI (M), and VCK: 2 each and DMDK secured one seat, among a total of 234 Assembly constituencies in the state.
The votes were taken up for counting on May 4 and the final tally was announced on Tuesday.
Actor-politician Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam on Monday created a record of sorts in the electoral history of Tamil Nadu and emerged as the single largest party by delivering a shock defeat to DMK and its president Stalin in his Kolathur constituency, while the AIADMK was pushed to a distant third spot.
Vijay won from both Perambur and Tiruchirappalli East constituencies.
The TVK has clocked nearly 35 per cent (34.92) vote share in its debut polls.
This will be the first time in Tamil Nadu that a party will assume power a little over two years after its founding in February 2024.
