October 23, 2019

Last week, on Friday, October 18, the United States astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir made history by performing the first spacewalk in which all the participants were women. Before then, all spacewalks had involved at least one man. That includes the first spacewalk by a woman, which was performed in July 1984 by the Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya, who was accompanied by Vladimir Dzhanibekov. In October 1984, Kathryn D. Sullivan became the first U.S. woman astronaut to conduct a spacewalk (with the mission specialist David Leestma).

NASA astronaut Christina Koch. Credit: NASA

The National Space and Aeronautics Administration (NASA) did not intentionally plan the first all-woman spacewalk. Rather, it was the natural result of an increasing number of women astronauts in the space program. Last Friday, Koch and Meir worked outside the International Space Station (ISS) for more than seven hours, replacing a crucial battery charger. The batteries power the ISS during the night portions of its orbits, which occur about every 45 minutes.

NASA Astronaut Jessica Meir. Credit: NASA

NASA had planned for Koch and another U.S. woman astronaut, Anne McClain, to conduct a spacewalk in March. But NASA did not have two appropriately sized spacesuits, and McClain was replaced by a male astronaut who “fit the suit.” In the following months, NASA delivered more varied spacesuit pieces to the ISS to reduce the likelihood of future sizing conflicts.

Koch and Meir’s spacewalk represents an important move toward gender parity in the U.S. space program. In privately-funded tests conducted in the early 1960’s, several women passed the same rigorous physical examinations that the male Mercury astronauts had passed. But NASA had no interest in selecting female astronauts at the time. No women were selected for the Mercury, Gemini, or Apollo missions. It was not until 1983 that the first woman U.S. astronaut, Sally Ride, reached space.

NASA has made strides to correct the gender imbalance in recent years. The 2013 astronaut class that produced Koch and Meir was the first class to have as many women as men (four each). The space agency is working towards returning astronauts to the moon in 2024 through the new Artemis program. NASA stated that at least one woman will walk on the moon.

Koch and Meir have stellar resumes that compelled NASA to select them for the astronaut training program. Both had done scientific work in Antarctica. Koch is an electrical engineer and helped develop a scientific instrument on the Juno mission to Jupiter. Meir has a Ph.D. in marine biology and has studied how penguins and other animals conserve oxygen in extreme environments. She raised a group of bar-headed geese from hatchlings so they would be comfortable with her during experiments. Even the two women’s hobbies prepared them for the spacewalk. Koch is an avid rock climber, having developed the climbing and tether safety skills similar to those needed for working outside a spacecraft. Meir enjoys underwater diving, where conditions are somewhat similar to those experienced during a spacewalk.