NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir are set to make history on Friday when they step outside the International Space Station for the first all-women spacewalk. Watch along here.NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, left, and Christina Koch inside the Quest airlock on Tuesday, preparing the U.S. spacesuits and tools they will use when they perform the first all-female spacewalk together on Friday. (NASA)Two female astronauts are set to make history on Friday when they step outside the International Space Station for the first all-women spacewalk. NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir will make their way outside the hatch around 7:50 a.m. ET, NASA says.The space agency will stream the event live, starting at 6:30 a.m. The team will then replace a broken battery charger that failed last week. NASA says the charger is one of many that help provide power to the space station, and its failure has not impacted the station’s operations or crew. Astronauts conducted two spacewalks last week to replace old batteries that make up the station’s solar power network. There are three more left to go, including Friday’s, to finish the job. One of those spacewalks was supposed to take place Wednesday, but was cancelled. NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir are the first all-female team to walk in space 0:00 Meir and Koch’s spacewalk could last up to six hours. The four men aboard the International Space Station will remain inside for the women’s spacewalk. Since the first spacewalk in 1965, there have been 227 spacewalkers. Only 14 of them have been women. The first spacewalk by a woman was in 1984. NASA says Friday’s all-women spacewalk marks a milestone for the agency, as it aims to send a woman to the moon by 2024. It’s also a milestone for Meir; Friday’s spacewalk will be her first. Meir, a marine biologist who arrived at the orbiting lab last month, will be the 15th female spacewalker. Koch, an electrical engineer, has already completed three spacewalks; she’s seven months into an 11-month space flight that will be the longest by a woman. NASA planned the first all-female spacewalk in March, but had to call it off because there weren’t enough medium-sized spacesuits to fit the women. Koch put together a second medium-sized spacesuit over the summer. Meanwhile, NASA is asking school teachers to share photos of their students celebrating “HERstory in the making.” The pictures might end up on the spacewalk broadcast.
Watch these NASA astronauts perform the 1st all-female spacewalk | CBC News
