What would have been the first all-female spacewalk by NASA started Friday morning without a hitch when astronauts Christina Koch and Nick Hague stepped outside of the station. The two were scheduled to be outside the station for 6.5 hours to work on the International Space Station's power sources and replace batteries. The walk started about five minutes after 8 a.m. EDT Friday and the live stream of the pair was up and running then.
The ISS sits 262 miles above the surface of the Earth and the planet can be seen below the astronauts as the station orbited around the planet. The live stream of the walk included the audio from the astronauts working on the station and a description of what's going on from mission control.
They're working to install lithium-ion batteries for one pair of solar arrays on the station that help power everything on board. The walk was the second of three scheduled walks with a third scheduled for April 8 to set cables outside of the station to set "a redundant path of power to the Canadian-built robotic arm," according to NASA. McClain is scheduled to conduct that walk along with David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency.
Watch the spacewalk live here:
The walk was originally scheduled to be done by Koch and her fellow NASA astronaut Anne McClain. The walk assignments were changed earlier this week when it became apparent there were not two spacesuits available that fit both women.
McClain tweeted earlier this week and said, "This decision was based on my recommendation. Leaders must make tough calls, and I am fortunate to work with a team who trusts my judgement. We must never accept a risk that can instead be mitigated. Safety of the crew and execution of the mission come first."
McClain needs a medium hard upper torso of the spacesuit as does Koch and only one was prepared on board the station this week. NASA said it could take 12 hours of unplanned work to prepare the HUT and could potentially be dangerous for the women in the adjusted suit. "We have a lot of elements that come in various sizes that we put together to make a spacesuit that fits a particular astronaut," Brandi Dean with NASA public affairs told Newsweek.
McClain did a spacewalk on March 22 when she became the 13th woman to ever do a spacewalk and the Friday walk made Koch the 14th woman to perform a spacewalk in history.
