Two NASA astronauts are preparing to step outside the International Space Station for what will mark a genuinely historic moment in human spaceflight. But here’s the twist — they won’t be floating alongside the ISS. They’ll be conducting the first-ever spacewalk from a commercial space station module, Axiom Space’s Habitat One, currently attached to the ISS. It’s a milestone that signals something bigger than a single EVA.
The spacewalk is scheduled for July 2025, according to Digital Trends. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams — yes, the same two who arrived at the ISS aboard Boeing’s troubled Starliner capsule in June 2024 and have been stationed there far longer than originally planned — will carry out the extravehicular activity. Their extended stay, initially expected to last about a week, has stretched into more than a year. And now that prolonged mission is yielding an unexpected dividend.
The EVA itself will involve tasks related to the exterior of Axiom’s module. Specific objectives include inspecting hardware, testing tools designed for future commercial station maintenance, and evaluating procedures that Axiom Space will need when it eventually detaches its modules from the ISS to operate independently as a free-flying station. That transition is expected sometime in the late 2020s, making this spacewalk a critical dry run.
Why does this matter?
Because the ISS is aging. NASA has committed to deorbiting the station around 2030, and the agency is counting on commercial replacements to fill the gap. Axiom Space, based in Houston, holds a contract with NASA to build modules that will first attach to the ISS and later separate to form their own orbital outpost. Other companies — including Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin (with its Orbital Reef concept) and Vast, which is developing the Haven-1 station — are also in the race. But Axiom is furthest along, with hardware already in orbit. A successful spacewalk from a commercial module validates the entire strategy.
Wilmore and Williams have become unlikely symbols of this transition. Their Starliner mission was supposed to be a quick crew rotation test. Instead, thruster malfunctions and helium leaks forced NASA to extend their stay indefinitely, and they were eventually reassigned to return aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. Boeing’s program took a reputational hit. But Wilmore and Williams kept working, integrating into the ISS crew rotation and taking on additional research and maintenance duties. The spacewalk assignment is a direct result of their availability and experience.
Axiom Space launched its first module to the ISS in 2024. The company has been deliberately building toward operational independence, and having NASA astronauts perform an EVA from its hardware represents a significant vote of confidence from the agency. Michael Suffredini, Axiom’s president and CEO and a former ISS program manager at NASA, has long argued that commercial stations can maintain the safety standards NASA requires while operating more cost-effectively. This spacewalk is a chance to prove that in the most demanding environment possible — outside the vehicle, in the vacuum of space.
The logistics aren’t trivial. Spacewalks are among the most dangerous activities astronauts perform. Each one requires weeks of preparation, careful choreography, and constant communication with mission control. Doing one from a module that wasn’t originally designed as part of the ISS architecture adds layers of complexity. Airlock compatibility, suit systems, tether points, emergency ingress procedures — all of it has to be verified and rehearsed.
So what’s at stake? More than a press release.
If this goes well, it strengthens the case that private infrastructure can support the full range of human spaceflight operations, not just habitation and research but also construction and repair. That’s essential for any future commercial station that won’t have NASA engineers designing every bolt. It also sets a precedent for how NASA partners with commercial providers on EVAs — a collaboration model the agency will depend on as it shifts resources toward Artemis lunar missions and eventually Mars.
Posts on X from space industry observers have noted the symbolic weight of the moment. One thread pointed out that this will be the first spacewalk conducted primarily in support of a commercial entity’s hardware objectives rather than government-owned infrastructure. That distinction matters for the business case. Axiom and its competitors need to demonstrate that their stations can be serviced, upgraded, and maintained in orbit — and that means EVA capability.
For Wilmore and Williams, it’s a fitting capstone to what has been an extraordinary — and unplanned — extended mission. They launched expecting eight days in space. They’ll return having spent well over a year on orbit, conducted critical maintenance on the ISS, supported multiple crew rotations, and now performed the first commercial-station spacewalk in history.
Not bad for a mission that almost didn’t happen.
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