AN ALL-FEMALE CREW

Replacing a power controller on the ISS during the first all-female EVA.

Credit: NASA

 On October 18, 2019, at 7:38 a.m. Eastern Time— in what will likely be one of the final firsts in Earth-orbital spacewalking—astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir switched their spacesuits to internal power and made history, conducting the first all-female spacewalk. The astronauts were tasked with replacing a failed power controller on the International Space Station (ISS), and the extra vehicular activity (EVA) lasted a total of seven hours and 17 minutes. It was Dr. Meir’s first spacewalk and Koch’s fourth.

Koch was originally scheduled to perform an EVA with astronaut Anne McClain to upgrade the power systems of the ISS on March 29, 2019. However, due to a recommendation made by McClain pertaining to the mismatched size of her spacesuit, the spacewalk was reassigned to astronaut Nick Hague, who joined Koch as they updated the station’s power technology.