Astronauts Successfully Repair Space Station's Canadarm2 During Spacewalk

WHO:

CBS News - NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Chris Williams conducted the spacewalk.

CBS News - Canadian astronaut Jenni Gibbons called up from mission control.

CBS News - Bill Spetch is the ISS operations and integration manager.

CBS News - Fiona Antkowiak is the flight director.

CBS News - Sandra Jones is a NASA commentator.

WHAT:

CBS News - Astronauts replaced a broken 200-pound "wrist" joint on the Canadarm2 robot arm.

CBS News - The spacewalk lasted seven hours and 20 minutes.

CBS News - The Canadarm2 is 58 feet long and has seven joints.

CBS News - The astronauts successfully installed the replacement joint four and a half hours into the spacewalk.

CBS News - The failed joint was brought back to the airlock for future repairs.

WHERE:

CBS News - The spacewalk took place outside the International Space Station.

WHEN:

CBS News - The spacewalk occurred on June 30, 2026.

CBS News - The astronauts switched their spacesuits to battery power at 8:20 a.m. ET.

CBS News - This was the year's third ISS spacewalk and the 280th overall.

WHY:

CBS News - The joint was replaced because it was drawing more current than expected and not moving properly.

CBS News - The Canadarm2 was designed with replaceable components for maintenance purposes.

HOW:

CBS News - The astronauts set up foot restraints and positioned the spare joint for installation.

CBS News - They detached the arm's "hand," known as the latching end effector (LEE), along with two other healthy joints.

CBS News - The 900-pound assembly was temporarily mounted on a nearby shelf to facilitate the replacement.

(UPDATED June 30, 2026 23:26 UTC)

NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Chris Williams conducted a spacewalk outside the International Space Station, successfully replacing a broken 200-pound "wrist" joint on the Canadarm2 robot arm during a seven-hour and 20-minute operation. The astronauts switched their spacesuits to battery power at 8:20 a.m. ET and installed the replacement joint four and a half hours into the spacewalk, bringing the failed joint back to the airlock for future repairs. This was the year's third ISS spacewalk and the 280th overall, with the Canadarm2 designed for maintenance through replaceable components.