What is the first spacewalk entirely composed of women?

This exit should have occurred in March. However, astronaut Anne McClain realized during a previous mission that size M suited her better for the "torso" part of her modular suit. The model taking 12 hours to prepare, Christina Koch was released from the ISS accompanied by a male colleague.

Many female astronauts have participated in spacewalks from the ISS, but always with a man. Anne McClain has meanwhile returned to Earth, and Jessica Meir joined the ISS in September. NASA had decided to schedule their release on October 21 at the start, and the agency has advanced this week after postponing other releases.

A mission of five to six hours

For five to six hours this Friday, Jessica Meir and Christina Koch are working to replace a battery charging unit that showed a fault after installing new lithium-ion batteries outside the ISS on the 11th last October, details NASA. It is possible to view the expedition on the website of the US Space Agency.

This release is not only a historic first, but it is also an opportunity for the company to recall that when the Americans return to the moon, a woman will be among the astronauts.

"Our achievements inspire students from around the world, proving that by working hard we can go very high, and that all students should be able to recognize themselves in these achievements," Nasa philosophizes.

This is the first 100% female spacewalk. For the moment, no whole mission has included women, although the Russians tried an experiment at Earth in 2015. The first woman to have been in space is the Russian Valentina Tereshkova in 1963. To date, she remains the only female cosmonaut to have made a solo mission.