Two astronauts made history Friday morning as the first women to participate in an all-female spacewalk. Christina Koch and Jessica Meir ventured outside the International Space Station at about 7:50 a.m. to make an urgent repair to its power system.
Originally, NASA had planned an all-female spacewalk in March. But that event — which was to have involved Koch and NASA astronaut Anne McClain — was scrapped because there weren’t enough spacesuits of the right size available on the station. NASA was criticized for not having enough uniforms for two women to participate in a spacewalk together.
NASA is hosted a live stream on their site, and celebrating “the first #AllWomanSpacewalk in human history!” (#AllWomanSpacewalk is trending on Twitter.)
LIVE NOW: Tune in to watch the first #AllWomanSpacewalk in human history! 👩🏻🚀
Starting at approximately 7:50am ET, @Astro_Christina & @Astro_Jessica venture into the vacuum of space to replace a failed power controller. Watch: https://t.co/2SIb9YXlRh
— NASA (@NASA) October 18, 2019
President Donald Trump called the two astronauts on Oct. 18 while they participated in NASA’s first all-female spacewalk. Trump congratulated Christina Koch and Jessica Meir on their achievement. “You’re both brave, brilliant women, and you represent this country so well,” Trump said.
