This first-all female spacewalk will be performed by American astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Koch at the International Space Station, and it’s happening this later this month.
In 1984, Svetlana Savitskaya became the first woman to perform a spacewalk, when she conducted an extravehicular activity (EVA) outside the Soviet Union’s Salyut 7 space station. 35 years later, NASA is set to make history again with an all-female spacewalk for the first time.
This first-all female spacewalk will be performed by American astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Koch at the International Space Station, and it’s happening this later this month.
A spacewalk is an expedition astronaut perform where they conduct work outside a space shuttle, such as repairs or observations.
The all-female spacewalk is scheduled to take place on March 29. March also marks Women’s History Month which one could argue is the perfect time to create history for women as well.
These two astronauts will be supported by an all-female team on the ground as well – by Mary Lawrence and Kristen Facciol serving as part of the flight control team, from NASA’s Houston station.
Kristen Facciol tweeted the confirmation, stating how excited she was to be part of this girl squad.
According to NASA, all three NASA astronauts who will be aboard the Intentional Space Station at the end of the month are from the 2013 astronaut class and the most recent class of flight directors, both of which was 50% women.
After Facciol’s confirmation, Twitter couldn’t contain their excitement for this timely move.
A NASA spokesperson who confirmed the historical significance of the planned spacewalk said it was “not orchestrated to be this way,” to the publication Axios.
