- U.S. astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir are making history today
- The pair exit the International Space Station at 07:38am ET (12:38pm BST)
- An all-woman spacewalk was cancelled in March due to woman’s ill-fitting suit
- On the space station, astronauts see a sunrise about every 90 minutes
NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir exited the International Space Station on Friday, the first time in a half-century of spacewalking that a woman floated out without a male crewmate.
The pair are currently moving to the space station’s P6 truss at the far end to begin work – where they will be replacing a failed power controller.
Taking more than five hours, the spacewalk is being streamed by NASA and is a landmark moment for female astronauts and scientists.
An all-woman spacewalk had been planned for March but one of the astronauts was replaced by a man because her space suit didn’t fit.
NASA astronaut Christina Koch
America’s first female spacewalker from 35 years ago, Kathy Sullivan, is delighted. She says it’s good to finally have enough women in the astronaut corps and trained for spacewalking for this to happen.
‘Our achievements provide inspiration to students around the world, proving that hard work can lead you to great heights, and all students should be able to see themselves in those achievements,’ a NASA spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.
The spacewalk will be broadcast in its entirety on National Aeronautics and Space Association (NASA) Television and on the agency’s website.
Koch and Meir are replacing the BCDUs after they failed to provide increased power to the ISS, though this has not significantly impacted the crew or its mission.
According to NASA, BCDUs regulate the charge for batteries that draw energy from the station’s solar collectors to provide power as the station orbits at night.
Koch, who is also set to complete the longest single spaceflight by a woman as she remains in orbit until February 2020, said gender milestones like the spacewalk were especially significant.
‘There are a lot of people who derive motivation from inspiring stories from people who look like them, and I think that it´s an important aspect of the story to tell,’ she told a NASA briefing in Houston this month.
‘What we´re doing now shows all the work in the decades prior from all the women that worked to get us where we are today,’ Meir added.
Koch, who was slated for the earlier spacewalk, will be making her fourth walk and will become the 14th woman ever to walk in space. Today will mark Meir’s first spacewalk. The ISS has seen more than 200 spacewalks since 1998.
The March spacewalk was called off because astronaut Ann McClain needed a medium spacesuit but only a large was available. Due to safety issues with the fit she did not participate.
‘We must never accept a risk that can instead be mitigated,’ she said on Twitter after the event. ‘Safety of the crew and execution of the mission come first.’
At the time the cancellation drew widespread criticism, including from former U.S. First Lady Hillary Clinton and global activism group March for Science.
Woman spacewalks date to July, 1984 when Russian cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya became the first to do so. Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov conducted history’s first spacewalk in 1965.
While today’s event is a long time coming, NASA said it was not purposefully planned.
‘It is something that was bound to happen eventually, and the increase in female astronauts in space for the past year is providing another window of opportunity,’ its spokeswoman said.
‘Fifty percent of the 2013 astronaut candidate class are women,’ she noted, ‘and of the 11 members of 2017 astronaut candidate class still in training, five are women.’
Culled from Mail online
