First all-female spacewalk set for March 29

HOUSTON, Texas -- On July 25, 1984, cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya took "one small step for woman, one giant leap for womankind" when she became the first woman to walk in space. Now, history will be made as the first all-female spacewalk is scheduled to take place March 29.

NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Koch will conduct a spacewalk, along with Canadian Space Agency flight controller Kristen Facciol serving as console at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Facciol revealed her announcement via Twitter.


According to NASA, spacewalks allow astronauts to work on the outside of their spacecraft while in space, conduct science experiments, as well as test out any new equipment. Since 1998, there have been 213 spacewalks at the International Space Station.

McClain and Koch were selected to be NASA astronauts in 2013. McClain is currently part of the Expedition 58 crew that launched back in December 2018 and will also serve on Expedition 59. Koch will serve as a flight engineer for Expedition 59 and 60, the former of which is scheduled to launch on March 14. This is McClain's first time in space and it will also be Koch's first spaceflight.

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