Humans in Space: the Most Iconic Spacewalk Photographs Ever Taken

On April 17, 2023, UAE astronaut and Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Sultan Alneyadi prepares an Extravehicular Mobility Unit inside the ISS's Quest airlock ahead of an upcoming spacewalk. Alneyadi became the first Arab astronaut to perform a spacewalk, spending six hours and 35 minutes outside the station on April 28, 2023, to replace a piece of communications equipment. The Quest airlock was delivered by Space Shuttle Atlantis in 2001 and has served as the staging area for more than 240 spacewalks in the two-plus decades since.

NASA astronaut and Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Stephen Bowen prepares his EMU spacesuit inside Quest airlock for the April 28, 2023, spacewalk alongside Sultan Alneyadi. Bowen is one of the most experienced spacewalkers in NASA's history, having accumulated over 67 hours of EVA time across his career. The preparation process before a spacewalk takes several hours: suits must be checked, umbilicals connected, hatches sealed, airlock pressure reduced gradually to avoid decompression sickness, and crew members pre-breathe pure oxygen to purge nitrogen from their blood.

On August 13, 2024, NASA astronaut Chris Williams trains for a spacewalk at the Neutral Buoyancy Lab at Johnson Space Center — a 23.5-million-litre pool large enough to contain full-scale mockups of ISS modules. Suited technicians and divers stand by to assist and monitor. NBL sessions typically run six hours, matching the expected duration of an actual EVA, and every planned EVA is rehearsed multiple times in the pool before being performed in space. The water provides neutral buoyancy but not weightlessness — NBL training is physically demanding in a way that orbital spacewalks are not.

JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui trains for a spacewalk at NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in Houston in April 2024, his suit stabilised by pool divers as he practices EVA techniques. Yui has previously performed three spacewalks during his time on the ISS, including one to replace a camera assembly and another to restore communications equipment. The international nature of ISS operations means that astronauts from JAXA, ESA, Roscosmos, and CSA all train alongside NASA astronauts and share EVA responsibilities, regardless of which country's equipment is being serviced.

NASA astronaut Mike Fincke trains for a spacewalk at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in December 2023. Fincke is among the most experienced American astronauts in history, having spent 381 days in space across three missions and accumulated over 48 hours of spacewalk time. His NBL training sessions in late 2023 were in preparation for a mission on Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, a reminder that even the most experienced astronauts prepare meticulously for every EVA, treating each simulation with the same discipline as the real thing.

Another view of Chris Williams during his August 2024 Neutral Buoyancy Lab training, working through procedures that will be used during an actual EVA. The level of detail in NBL preparation is extreme: every tool has a tether protocol, every connector has a specific torque value, every procedure has a verbal communication requirement. This systematic approach is what allows astronauts with gloved hands in vacuum to perform tasks requiring dexterity that would challenge an ungloved hand in normal gravity — the preparation makes the extraordinary routine.

At Johnson Space Center's Virtual Reality Lab, Commercial Crew Astronaut Mike Hopkins uses a full-motion VR simulator to rehearse spacewalking procedures in preparation for his ISS mission. The VR system provides photorealistic environments matching specific sections of the space station's exterior, allowing crew members to build spatial memory of the work sites without the logistics of a full NBL session. Hopkins wore a Boeing Starliner suit during portions of his training, one of several new commercial spaceflight hardware elements being integrated into standard mission preparation.

At Johnson Space Center's Virtual Reality Lab in October 2018, Commercial Crew Astronaut Suni Williams rehearses spacewalking procedures for her upcoming ISS mission. Williams is one of the most experienced spacewalkers in history, having accumulated over 50 hours of EVA time across three ISS expeditions. Her 2018 VR training was in preparation for her role as a commander on Boeing's Starliner program — a mission that would eventually launch in 2024 in dramatically different circumstances than anyone had planned.

A third image from Chris Williams' August 2024 Neutral Buoyancy Lab session shows him working through specific EVA procedures in the pool. Each arm movement, each tool change, each communication call is practised until it becomes automatic — because in space, there is no opportunity to look at a checklist and think for several minutes while hanging 250 miles above the Earth. The NBL photo documentation serves double duty: it creates a visual record that instructors review for technique, and it provides images that flight directors use to brief ground teams on exactly what crew members have practised.

On April 17, 2023, UAE astronaut and Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Sultan Alneyadi prepares an Extravehicular Mobility Unit inside the ISS's Quest airlock ahead of an upcoming spacewalk. Alneyadi became the first Arab astronaut to perform a spacewalk, spending six hours and 35 minutes outside the station on April 28, 2023, to replace a piece of communications equipment. The Quest airlock was delivered by Space Shuttle Atlantis in 2001 and has served as the staging area for more than 240 spacewalks in the two-plus decades since.

NASA astronaut and Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Stephen Bowen prepares his EMU spacesuit inside Quest airlock for the April 28, 2023, spacewalk alongside Sultan Alneyadi. Bowen is one of the most experienced spacewalkers in NASA's history, having accumulated over 67 hours of EVA time across his career. The preparation process before a spacewalk takes several hours: suits must be checked, umbilicals connected, hatches sealed, airlock pressure reduced gradually to avoid decompression sickness, and crew members pre-breathe pure oxygen to purge nitrogen from their blood.

On August 13, 2024, NASA astronaut Chris Williams trains for a spacewalk at the Neutral Buoyancy Lab at Johnson Space Center — a 23.5-million-litre pool large enough to contain full-scale mockups of ISS modules. Suited technicians and divers stand by to assist and monitor. NBL sessions typically run six hours, matching the expected duration of an actual EVA, and every planned EVA is rehearsed multiple times in the pool before being performed in space. The water provides neutral buoyancy but not weightlessness — NBL training is physically demanding in a way that orbital spacewalks are not.

JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui trains for a spacewalk at NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in Houston in April 2024, his suit stabilised by pool divers as he practices EVA techniques. Yui has previously performed three spacewalks during his time on the ISS, including one to replace a camera assembly and another to restore communications equipment. The international nature of ISS operations means that astronauts from JAXA, ESA, Roscosmos, and CSA all train alongside NASA astronauts and share EVA responsibilities, regardless of which country's equipment is being serviced.

NASA astronaut Mike Fincke trains for a spacewalk at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in December 2023. Fincke is among the most experienced American astronauts in history, having spent 381 days in space across three missions and accumulated over 48 hours of spacewalk time. His NBL training sessions in late 2023 were in preparation for a mission on Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, a reminder that even the most experienced astronauts prepare meticulously for every EVA, treating each simulation with the same discipline as the real thing.

Another view of Chris Williams during his August 2024 Neutral Buoyancy Lab training, working through procedures that will be used during an actual EVA. The level of detail in NBL preparation is extreme: every tool has a tether protocol, every connector has a specific torque value, every procedure has a verbal communication requirement. This systematic approach is what allows astronauts with gloved hands in vacuum to perform tasks requiring dexterity that would challenge an ungloved hand in normal gravity — the preparation makes the extraordinary routine.

At Johnson Space Center's Virtual Reality Lab, Commercial Crew Astronaut Mike Hopkins uses a full-motion VR simulator to rehearse spacewalking procedures in preparation for his ISS mission. The VR system provides photorealistic environments matching specific sections of the space station's exterior, allowing crew members to build spatial memory of the work sites without the logistics of a full NBL session. Hopkins wore a Boeing Starliner suit during portions of his training, one of several new commercial spaceflight hardware elements being integrated into standard mission preparation.

At Johnson Space Center's Virtual Reality Lab in October 2018, Commercial Crew Astronaut Suni Williams rehearses spacewalking procedures for her upcoming ISS mission. Williams is one of the most experienced spacewalkers in history, having accumulated over 50 hours of EVA time across three ISS expeditions. Her 2018 VR training was in preparation for her role as a commander on Boeing's Starliner program — a mission that would eventually launch in 2024 in dramatically different circumstances than anyone had planned.

A third image from Chris Williams' August 2024 Neutral Buoyancy Lab session shows him working through specific EVA procedures in the pool. Each arm movement, each tool change, each communication call is practised until it becomes automatic — because in space, there is no opportunity to look at a checklist and think for several minutes while hanging 250 miles above the Earth. The NBL photo documentation serves double duty: it creates a visual record that instructors review for technique, and it provides images that flight directors use to brief ground teams on exactly what crew members have practised.