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Nasa makes history as first all-female spacewalk begins
Nasa astronauts begin first ever all-female spacewalk
(32 minutes later)
Nasa began the first ever all-female spacewalk on Friday morning, sending two American astronauts out into the void to effect repairs to the International Space Station (ISS), following a power system failure at the laboratory high above Earth.
Two Nasa astronauts have embarked on the first all-female space walk in a historic first.
US astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir made history as they stepped out of the orbiting lab and began floating around its structure in order to replace a faulty part of the solar power unit, which stopped working over the weekend.
Christina Koch and Jessica Meir floated feet-first out of the International Space Station’s Quest airlock on Friday lunchtime UK time, tasked with replacing a failed power control unit.
The spacewalk, known as an extra-vehicular activity (EVA) in astronaut jargon, took place seven months after the original planned date for an all-female outing, which had to be scrapped because the ISS had only one medium-sized spacesuit on board. The agency sent up a second medium spacesuit in October.
Nasa unveils spacesuits to be worn by first woman on the moon
Nasa unveils spacesuits to be worn by first woman on the moon
The mission, which will be Koch’s fourth and Meir’s first, and is expected to last five and a half hours. In about a half-century of astronauts and cosmonauts occasionally venturing outside their space craft on dangerous missions in the void, there has never been an all-women team undertaking the delicate exercise.
“I think it’s important because of the historical nature of what we’re doing,” Koch said ahead of the spacewalk. “In the past, women haven’t always been at the table. It’s wonderful to be contributing to the space program at a time when all contributions are being accepted, when everyone has a role. That can lead in turn to increased chance for success.”
The US space agency had originally planned an all-female spacewalk in March – which included Koch and fellow astronaut Anne McClain – but had to cancel it because of a shortage of medium-size suits.
Koch, who has been on the ISS since March, was first out of the hatch, followed by Meir, carrying a tool bag. During the spacewalk, expected to last five-and-a-half-hours, the astronauts will remain attached to handrails on the exterior of the ISS using harnesses and pairs of metal carabiners. These are sequentially clipped and unclipped to ensure that the astronauts cannot float off into space.
McClain originally thought a large-size spacesuit would be fit for purpose but later concluded that a medium would be safer.
Tracy Caldwell Dyson, a Nasa astronaut who completed three spacewalks as part of the Expedition 24 crew on the ISS in 2010, said: “This is significant … As much as it’s worth celebrating, many of us are looking forward to it just being normal.”
This decision was based on my recommendation,” McClain tweeted at the time from onboard the ISS.
Previously, 14 women and 213 men have carried out spacewalks. The first woman was the Russian cosmonaut, Svetlana Savitskaya, who went outside the USSR’s Salyut 7 space station in 1984.
“Leaders must make tough calls, and I am fortunate to work with a team who trusts my judgment.
On Tuesday, Nasa unveiled the prototype for a new spacesuit that could be worn by the next crew, expected to include a woman, to land on the moon. The suit is designed to give a customised fit to the individual astronaut, whatever their shape or size.
“We must never accept a risk that can instead be mitigated. Safety of the crew and execution of the mission come first.”
She returned to Earth in June and Nasa sent a second medium-size spacesuit up to the station earlier this month.
America’s first female spacewalker from 35 years ago, Kathy Sullivan, expressed delight. She says it was good finally to have enough women in the astronaut corps and trained for spacewalking to enable such a mission to go ahead.
Spacesuits are made of many interchangeable parts, fitted together to accommodate different body shapes, with the suits assembled usually four months prior to flight. While there are no differences between a male and female spacesuit, female astronauts usually wear a smaller size.
The scheduled spacewalk will see Koch and Meir venture outside the ISS wearing medium-size suits in order to replace the faulty device, known as the battery charge-discharge unit, which has been in operation since 2000.
There have been 227 spacewalkers since the first spacewalk in 1965. Only 14 women have performed spacewalks, always accompanied by men.
Koch, an electrical engineer, has been living in space since March while Meir, a marine biologist, joined the ISS crew in September. Both are members of Nasa’s Astronaut Class of 2013.
Koch is more than 200 days into her mission and is slated to set a record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman – with an expected total of 328 days in space.
Along with Koch and Meir, Nasa astronaut Andrew Morgan, Russian cosmonauts Aleksandr Skvortsov and Oleg Skripochka, and the European Space Agency’s Luca Parmitano are part of the current ISS crew.
