First All-Female Spacewalk Back on Schedule This Month

NASA astronauts Jessica Weir (left) and Christina Koch (right) are scheduled to complete the first all-female spacewalk (via Christina Koch/Twitter)

The first all-female spacewalk has been rescheduled for later this month.

After a heart-breaking change in assignments split up would-be trailblazers Anne McClain and Christina Koch in March, the International Space Station is finally prepared make history.

On Oct. 21, NASA astronauts Koch and Jessica Meir will don two medium-sized spacesuits for one of five power-upgrade spacewalks.

Koch, who arrived on the ISS in March, is well on her way to setting a record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman—surpassing Peggy Whitson.

But she’s not too bothered that the focus of her accomplishments is so often aimed at her gender.

“I think it’s important because of the historical nature of what we’re doing, and in the past, women haven’t always been at the table,” Koch said on NASA TV. “There are a lot of people that derive motivation from inspiring stories from people that look like them, and I think it’s an important aspect of the story to tell.”

Meir echoed that sentiment, adding that what the pair are doing now “shows all the work that went in for the decades prior—all the women that worked to get us where are are today.”

“I think the nice thing is for us, we don’t really think about it on a daily basis,” she continued. “It’s just normal. We’re part of the team. We’re doing this work as an efficient team working together with everybody else. So it’s just really nice to see how far … we’ve come.”

Earlier this year, NASA aborted its first all-female extravehicular activity due to ill-fitting outerwear.

Battery replacement

The pioneering ladies’ upcoming spacewalk is part of an ongoing project to upgrade ISS batteries.

During a seven-hour stroll on Sunday, Koch and fellow NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan began the replacement of nickel-hydrogen batteries with newer, more powerful lithium-ion packs on the far end of the station’s port truss.

The next walks dedicated to battery upgrades are scheduled on Oct. 16, 21, and 25.

Moving forward, astronauts will focus on repairs to the Space Station’s Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. (Dates for those events are still being discussed, and are expected to begin in November.)

ISS crew members have conducted 219 spacewalks in support of assembly and maintenance of the orbiting laboratory. To date, astronauts have spent a total of 57 days, 6 hours, and 27 minutes working outside the station.

More on Geek.com:

• Astronauts Swap Soyuz Spacecraft’s ‘Parking Spot’ at Space Station
• ISS Astronauts Had the Ultimate Pizza Party Before a Spacewalk
• Astronauts Test New Spacesuits for SpaceX’s First Crewed Test Flight

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