Adventure is calling to us from beyond our atmosphere, and we’ve been there to answer so far. What made October 18 completely different from what has been done outside our world is something women have been dreaming of for years. Something young girls have dreamed of happening to them in the future, or even helping produce: the first all-women spacewalk in history was marked that morning with NASA astronauts, Christina Koch (40) and Jessica Meir (42), who took one big step for womankind to outside the International Space Station early that morning. The two women proceeded to make history as they made their way outside the orbiting laboratory. This then led to an unplanned spacewalk to repair a battery discharge unit on a solar arrays, which had failed after Koch and another astronaut, Nick Hague, had replaced the battery on another spacewalk on October 11.
Photo via NASA
The event or historic extravehicular activity (EVA) started at 7:38 EDT, before the 7:50 EDT scheduled time. It officially had begun by the time both astronauts switched the battery power in their spacesuits. The whole affair was guided by a veteran NASA astronaut and capsule communicator (CAPCOM), Stephanie Wilson (53), from the ground. Associates Luca Parmitano (43) and Andrew R. Morgan (43) as well joined in from the International Space Station. This marked the 221st spacewalk in care for the maintenance and assembly of the space station. Subsequently, cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya became the very first woman to do a spacewalk in 1984, women have actively partaken in 42 spacewalks. There have been 15 spacewalks done with women, 14 of which have been NASA astronauts. With each spacewalk, Koch gets closer to setting a record for the longest amount of time continuously spent in space by a U.S. woman. This would beat former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson’s record of 288 days.
Photo via NASA
“This is how it feels when in addition to your childhood dream being fulfilled by arriving to @Space_Station, you’re greeted by your Astro-brothers and sisters on the other side of the hatch,” Meir tweeted. Meir and Koch trained for the last six years with each other because they were members of the same astronaut class. NASA released a statement from Koch during an interview about the importance of this spacewalk would be, Koch said, “In the end, I do think it’s important, and I think it’s important because of the historical nature of what we’re doing. 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. That can lead in turn to increased chance for success. There are a lot of people who derive motivation from inspiring stories of people who look like them, and I think it’s an important story to tell.”
Photo via NASA
One giant leap into womenkind’s future with all of this going on, we should expect more from NASA and women’s conduct on their upcoming mission. We can only be ecstatic for what Koch and Meir’s forthcoming with all the news surrounding the event. As we celebrate the news, we can only hope for the future of NASA and other space programs to continue to expand.
Sources:
https://www.space.com/first-all-woman-spacewalk-nasa-success.html
https://www.space.com/first-all-woman-spacewalk-photos-videos-tweets.html
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/fridays-all-woman-spacewalk-the-basics/
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/10/first-all-women-spacewalk-suit-design/
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/fridays-all-woman-spacewalk-the-basics/