US astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir made history on Friday, completing the first all-female spacewalk. An earlier attempt was cancelled when there weren't enough spacesuits in the right size.
Image: picturea-lliance/AP Photo/NASA
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Space history reached another milestone on Friday when American astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir conducted the first all-female spacewalk then returned to the International Space Station (ISS).
The two astronauts entered the airlock of the ISS at about 18:40 GMT, just a few seconds under seven hours after beginning their excursion.
The two women successfully replaced a broken battery charger, which regulates energy collected from the station's solar panels.
"Copy. Thermal cover closed. Nice work," said Stephanie Wilson, a spacewalk coordinator at the mission control in Houston.
The four remaining members of the Expedition 62 crew, all men, had stayed inside the station.
The faulty charger posed no risk to the crew or the station but kept the ISS from receiving an increase in power.
However, the spacewalk will not be considered concluded until the airlock repressurizes.
NASA broadcast the spacewalk live on its own television service NASA TV.
One for the history books
The event was the 421st spacewalk ever and the 221st performed at the ISS since its launch in 1998.
It was the fourth spacewalk for Koch, an electrical engineer seven months into an 11-month space mission. Her mission will be the longest ever completed by a woman.
For Meir, a marine biologist, it was her first walk. She is the 15th woman to complete a spacewalk.
In an interview before the operation, Koch told NASA, "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."
First women in space
The US wants to put the first woman on the Moon by 2024. Whoever that is will be standing on the shoulders of giants. DW looks at some of the women who have made their mark in space exploration.
Image: picture-alliance/Itar-Tass/S. Baranov
'They forbade me from flying, despite all my protests and arguments'
On June 16 1963, skilled Russian parachutist Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space, finishing 48 orbits of the earth in her space capsule Vostok 6. It would be almost 20 years until another woman left Earth's atmosphere — Svetlana Savitskaya in 1982 on the Soyuz T-7 mission. A crater on the Moon is named after Tereshkova who now sits as a member of Russia's parliament, the Duma.
Image: picture-alliance/Itar-Tass/S. Baranov
NASA's first females not allowed in space
NASA selected Shannon Lucid, Margaret Seddon, Kathryn Sullivan, Judith Resnik, Anna Fisher, and Sally Ride as their first female astronaut candidates in January 1978. A number of American women passed the astronaut selection process in the early 1960s but were not eligible to go into space because they had not completed military jet test pilot training — a career that was unavailable to women.
Image: picture-alliance/Cover Images/NASA
'Ask an 11-year-old to draw a scientist, she's likely to draw a geeky guy... That's just not an image an 11-year-old girl aspires to'
The first American woman in space was due to go on a third mission before the infamous Challenger disaster cut short her training in 1986. But Sally Ride made history by using robotic arms to retrieve satellites in her first two missions and later devoting her life to helping girls excel in math, science and engineering, according to President Barack Obama. She died from pancreatic cancer in 2012.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/NASA
'Never be limited by other people's limited imaginations...'
Inspired by Sally Ride, Mae Jemison — physician, teacher, Peace Corps volunteer and founder of two technology companies — became the first African-American woman in space when she embarked with the Endeavor in September 1992 to conduct bone cell experiments. As chief of the 100 Year Starship program she hopes to make human flight beyond the solar system possible this century.
Image: picture-alliance/NurPhoto/B. Zawrzel
Chiaki Mukai
Chiaki Mukai (center) trained as a doctor in Japan and went on to become the first Japanese woman to leave the earth, conducting multiple medical experiments in microgravity environments allowing for the study of aging in space. Her two voyages in 1994 and 1998 also allowed her to support the deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope.
Image: picture-alliance/abaca/NASA
'When you look at the stars and the galaxy, you feel that you are not just from any particular piece of land, but from the solar system.'
Kalpana means "creativity" or "imagination" in Sanskrit. After becoming the first Indian-born woman to go to space, Kalpana Chawla's first mission was to deploy satellites to study the surface of the Sun in 1997. But after her second mission was delayed three years before taking off in 2003, Chawla's Columbia shuttle broke up on re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, killing the entire crew.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/NASA
'No signs of borders, no signs of troubles. Just pure beauty.'
Becoming a multi-millionaire entrepreneur by the age of 32 might be enough for most people, but in September 2006 Anousheh Ansari also became not only the first Iranian-born astronaut in space but also the first ever female private space explorer. After arriving at the International Space Station, she saw earth: "So peaceful, so full of life."
Image: picture-alliance/Everett Collection
Peggy Whitson
As the first female commander of the International Space Station, Peggy Whitson also holds another slightly daunting record — almost 666 days in space, the longest length for any woman. After numerous spacewalks, Whitson returned to Earth last in 2017 after 289 days on the multi-national mission, also making her the oldest woman to go to space.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/NASA
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Wardrobe malfunction
The history-making walk was originally scheduled for March for Koch and astronaut Anne McClain. NASA canceled it abruptly when it became clear there were not enough spacesuits in the appropriate size.
McClain returned to Earth in June. Meir has been at the ISS since September.
A second attempt by Koch and Meir had been scheduled for next week. NASA moved it to Friday when the battery-charging unit failed.
Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov completed the first spacewalk in 1965. In 1984, Svetlana Savitskaya, also of the Soviet Union, became the first woman to complete a spacewalk.
A Russian cosmonout shares his memories of the first moon landing
