Nasa/ Getty
Astronauts will conduct the first all-female spacewalk on 29 March in a history-making moment. It marks 35 years since Svetlana Savitskaya became the first woman to walk in space on July 25 1984.
NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Koch will carry out the activity as part of the Expedition 59 crew at the International Space Station, along with Canadian Space Agency flight controller, Kristen Facciol serving as console at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, reports Florida Today.
Anne McClain / Sergei Savostyanov, Getty Images
Christina Koch / Mikhail Japaridze, Getty Images
Facciol tweeted her excitement at the news: “I just found out that I’ll be on console providing support for the FIRST ALL FEMALE SPACEWALK with @AstroAnnimal and @Astro_Christina and I can not contain my excitement!!!! #WomenInSTEM #WomenInEngineering #WomenInSpace“
I just found out that I’ll be on console providing support for the FIRST ALL FEMALE SPACEWALK with @AstroAnnimal and @Astro_Christina and I can not contain my excitement!!!! #WomenInSTEM #WomenInEngineering #WomenInSpace
— Kristen Facciol (@kfacciol) March 1, 2019
Spacewalks are conducted for various reasons, enabling scientists to do science experiments to ascertain how space affects various things and also providing the opportunity to test equipment. They usually last between five and eight hours.
As of 2017, NASA reports that 59 different women total including cosmonauts, astronauts, payload specialists, and foreign nationals have flown in space.
