The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Nasa astronauts in first all-female spacewalk
American pair make history with mission at International Space Station
The first all-female spacewalk took place at the International Space Station (ISS).
US astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir made history as they floated out of the orbiting space laboratory 12 minutes ahead of schedule at 12.38pm BST yesterday to replace a faulty power unit.
This is Ms Koch’s fourth spacewalk and a first for Ms Meir, who has become the 15th woman to venture out the ISS.
The duo were assisted by mission commander Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency, and Nasa Flight Engineer Andrew Morgan.
The astronauts exited from the space station’s Quest airlock after their spacesuits were set to battery power.
Ms Koch was the first to leave the hatch followed by Ms Meir.
They were tasked with replacing a battery unit on the Port 6 truss structure – the attachment points for external payloads received by the ISS – that stopped working after new lithium-ion batteries were installed on the space station last week.
There have been 227 spacewalkers since the first spacewalk in 1965.
The US space agency had originally planned an all-female spacewalk in March – which included Ms Koch and fellow astronaut Anne Mcclain – but had to cancel it because of a shortage of medium-size suits.
Ms Mcclain originally thought a large-size spacesuit would be fit for purpose but later concluded that a medium would be safer.
She returned to Earth in June and Nasa sent a second medium-size spacesuit up to the station earlier this month.
Spacesuits are made of many interchangeable parts, designed to accommodate astronauts with widely varying body sizes.
Body measurements of each astronaut are plotted against the size ranges available for each component. The suits are then 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.
Ms Koch, an electrical engineer, has been living in space since March while Ms Meir, a marine biologist, joined the ISS crew in September.