NASA’s First All-Female Space Walk.
Though the road to this spacewalk was bumpy with more than a few setbacks to say the least. For years, NASA’s efforts in space were male dominated. NASA has been playing catch up with gender equality. All of the original astronauts were male. All of the original American astronauts were male. While the USA was focused on sending men to the moon and returning them safely, the Soviet Union propelled female equality in space to new heights. In 1963, first American woman to fly in space nearly 20 years after USSR cosmonaut spent almost three days in space and orbited Earth 48 times in her Vostok 6 space capsule.
Svetlana Yevgenyevna Savitskaya, another USSR COSMONAUT, joined the Soviet space program in 1980. She was selected for training for Soyuz and Salyut spacecraft. On Aug. 19, 1982, Savitskaya became the second woman in space while part of the Soyuz T-7 mission to the Salyut 7 space station. On July 25, 1984, Savitskaya became the first female to “walk” in space during her second trip to Salyut 7.
NASA had put in motion plans for female astronauts in the 1960s but didn’t officially select and start actual female astronauts for the program until the late 1970s. NASA astronauts Shannon W. Lucid, Margaret Rhea Seddon, Kathryn D. Sullivan, Judith A. Resnik, Anna L. Fisher and Sally K. Ride became the first six women to be selected by NASA as official female astronaut candidates. The first female astronaut was Sally Ride. Sally became the first American woman to fly in space nearly 20 years after USSR cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to orbit the Earth.
Later, Kathryn Sullivan became the first American woman to perform a spacewalk. Sullivan’s first flight to space was STS-41G (space shuttle Challenger) on October 5–13, 1984. Sullivan along with mission specialist David Leetsma conducted a 3.5-hour space “walk” where they demonstrated technology how to refuel satellites in orbit. Since then, NASA has made great strides in equality in the human spaceflight program. Recent astronaut pools have been more balanced in gender equality.
The above picture above shows the six female astronauts in January 1978, (L to r) NASA astronauts Shannon W. Lucid, Margaret Rhea Seddon, Kathryn D. Sullivan, Judith A. Resnik, Anna L. Fisher and Sally K. Ride. 12 women underwent some astronaut training in the 1960s, however these six women were NASA’s first official female astronaut candidates. In 1983, Sally Ride (far right) became the first American woman to fly in space and helped pave the way for gender equality in space.
(Image: © NASA)
NASA put plans to further correct this female inequality in space and conduct the first all-female spacewalk. Those plans were originally intended for NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Koch. The suits provide life support, battery power, radiation protection, thermal temperature control and much more, making the suits essentially a miniature spacecraft. The suits are complex. The Suits are modular and consist of various parts of the space suit including upper torso, legs, lower arms, waists and boots. There are three hard upper torso sizes, four leg sizes, seven lower arms sizes, two waist sizes and two boot sizes. The Extravehicular Mobility Units are critical for the astronauts for survival as they are the lifeline back to the space station and relative safety. Since the suits are modular, and they are the only thing keeping the astronauts alive in the harsh space environment, having functional suits that are appropriately sized are critical.
For the planned spacewalk for Christina Koch and Anne McClain, two medium suits were required. Although there were two medium suits onboard, only one was ready in time for the spacewalk. Anne McClain who was already the 13th female spacewalker had already utilized a medium sized suit on her prior EVA. Without sufficiently sized space suits, or Extravehicular Mobility Units, available to conduct the EVA (Extravehicular Activity), Astronaut Nick Hague was deemed a better fit for the available suit and swapped out Anne McClain. So, the challenge was not that the suits didn’t fit, it was that enough good fit suits were not available.
Although this was not part of the normally scheduled spacewalks to maintain the space station, NASA needed to take action to replace faulty equipment. This gave NASA to conduct the on the first ever all-female spacewalk. NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir ventured outside the International Space Station on Friday, Oct. 18, to replace faulty equipment on the station’s exterior. This time, the Extravehicular Mobility Units were prepared and ready for Koch the 14th woman to walk in space earlier that year and Meir the 15th. All other prior female astronauts that have conducted spacewalks aside from USSR cosmonaut Savitskaya, are either current or former NASA astronauts.
Jim Bridenstine(NASA Administrator) and Ken Bowersox (a former astronaut) hosted a media teleconference to discuss the historical significance of the event and reinforce the NASA plan of putting the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024. NASA has reinforced that the first all-woman spacewalk is a milestone worth noting and celebrating as the agency is preparing for another first. NASA intends to put the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024 under the Artemis lunar exploration program. NASA expressed that these types of achievements provide inspiration to students around the world and proving that working hard can lead you to great heights.
President Donald Trump, along with Vice President Mike Pence and House adviser Ivanka Trump on Friday video conferenced two NASA astronauts in space to congratulate them as they completed the first all-female spacewalk in history. “You’re right now on television all over the world so don’t get nervous,” President Trump opened with. Then President Trump praised the two astronauts calling them “brave, brilliant women … who represent our country so well.” Although President Trump mixed up the facts about this being the first female spacewalk, Jessica Meir modestly replied back, telling President Trump, “We don’t want to take too much credit because there have been many other female spacewalkers before. This is the first time that there’s been two women outside at the same time.”
List of females that have completed an EVA
- Svetlana Savitskaya, USSR; 1984
- Kathryn Sullivan, U.S.; 1984
- Kathryn Thornton, U.S.; 1992
- Linda Godwin, U.S.; 1996
- Tammy Jernigan, U.S.; 1999
- Susan Helms, U.S.; 2001
- Peggy Whitson, U.S.; 2002
- Stefanyshyn-Piper, U.S.; 2006
- Sunita Williams, U.S.; 2006
- Nicole Stott, U.S.; 2009
- Tracy Caldwell Dyson, U.S.; 2010
- Kate Rubins, U.S.; 2016
- Anne McClain, U.S.; 2019
- Christina Koch, U.S.; 2019
- Jessica Meir, U.S.; 2019
About The Author
Bill D'Zio
Co-Founder at WestEastSpace.com
Bill founded WestEastSpace.com after returning to China in 2019 to be supportive of his wife's career. Moving to China meant leaving the US rocket/launch industry behind, as USA and China don't see eye to eye on cooperation in space. Bill has an engineering degree and is an experienced leader of international cross-functional teams with experience in evaluating, optimizing and awarding sub-contracts for complex systems. Bill has worked with ASME Components, Instrumentation and Controls (I&C) for use in launch vehicles, satellites, aerospace nuclear, and industrial applications.
Bill provides consulting services for engineering, supply chain, and project management.
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