NASA astronaut Anne McClain. Image : NASA/Elizabeth Weissinger NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Koch will make history on March 29 by becoming the first all-wome n team to perform a spacewalk, which they’ll do outside the International Space Station. Advertisement On July 25, 1984, Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya became the first woman to participate in a spacewalk. Now, some 35 years later, history is set to be made again. Later this month, NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Koch will become the first all-female spacewalking team, according to CNN’s Gianluca Mezzofiore, who confirmed the news with NASA. Kristen Faccio from the Canadian Space Agency will provide the necessary ground support, which she’ll do from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Judging by her tweets, Faccio is justifiably pumped. Of the roughly 500 people who have been to space, less than 11 percent have been women. A ll spacewalks to date have either involved teams consisting exclusively of men or teams involving both men and women , reports the Guardian. To say an all-female spacewalking excursion is long overdue would be a gross understatement NASA astronaut Christina Koch. Image : NASA/Beth Weissinger “It was not orchestrated to be this way; these spacewalks were originally scheduled to take place in the fall,” a NASA spokesperson told CNN. “In addition to the two female spacewalkers, the Lead Flight Director is Mary Lawrence, and Jackie Kagey (also a woman), is the lead EVA (spacewalk) flight controller.” Advertisement NASA television coverage of the March 29 spacewalk is scheduled to start at 6:30 a.m. ET, and it’s expected to last for about 7 hours. The purpose of the spacewalk is to replace batteries that were installed last summer, per the Guardian. For McClain and Koch, both of whom were selected to be astronauts in 2013, it’ll be their first spacewalk . McClain is currently aboard the ISS as a member of the Expedition 58 crew, which arrived back in December. This is her first stint in space. Koch is scheduled to serve as flight engineer for the subsequent Expedition 59 and 60, the first of which is scheduled to launch on March 14. Koch will be joined by NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin. Advertisement If those last two names sound familiar, it’s likely you’re thinking of the failed Soyuz launch from last October, when Hague and Ovchinin had to make an emergency parachute-assisted landing after a rocket failure. Fingers are seriously crossed for better outcome later this month. Advertisement [CNN, The Guardian]<doc-sep>It is a big step for women. If all goes according to plan, on March 29, astronauts aboard the International Space Station are scheduled to conduct the first all-female spacewalk. Anne McClain and Christina Koch will venture out together about 240 miles (400 kilometres) above Earth and make history. Adding to the significance of their mission, the spacewalk will take place during Women's History Month. "It was not orchestrated to be this way," said NASA spokeswoman Stephanie Schierholz. "These spacewalks were originally scheduled to take place in the fall — they are to upgrade batteries on the space station." Astronauts Anne McClain, left, and Christina Koch. (NASA) McClain and Koch's spacewalk will be the second of three planned excursions for Expedition 59, which launches next week on — what else? — Pi Day at 3:14 pm ET (8:14 pm UTC). Schierholz pointed to the fact that women would be at the controls as well. Mary Lawrence will serve as lead flight director, and Jackie Kagey will be the lead spacewalk flight controller. One NASA flight controller expressed her excitement about working on the mission. I just found out that I'll be on console providing support for the FIRST ALL FEMALE SPACEWALK with @AstroAnnimal and @Astro_Christina and I can not contain my excitement!!!! #WomenInSTEM #WomenInEngineering #WomenInSpace — Kristen Facciol (@kfacciol) March 1, 2019 McClain is also slated to perform a spacewalk with astronaut Nick Hague on 22 March. "Of course, assignments and schedules could always change," Schierholz said. Both McClain and Koch were members of NASA's 2013 astronaut class, half of which was made up of women. McClain, a major in the US Army and a pilot, "wanted to be an astronaut from the time I was 3 or 4 years old," she said in a 2015 NASA video interview. "I remember telling my mom at that time, and I never deviated from what I wanted to be. Something about exploration has fascinated me from a young age." McClain is currently aboard the ISS, where she is accompanied by an adorable Earth plush toy. Koch, an electrical engineer, will join her March 14 in what will be her first space flight, according to NASA. Space is just the latest exciting frontier Koch has conquered: Her work has taken her on expeditions to the South Pole and the Arctic. When asked in a February interview about the importance of conducting her mission during Women's History Month, she said, "It is a unique opportunity, and I hope that I'm be able to inspire folks that might be watching." Noting she did not have many engineers to look up to growing up in Jacksonville, North Carolina., she added, "I hope that I can be an example to people that might not have someone to look at as a mentor … that it doesn't matter where you come from or what examples there might be around you, you can actually achieve whatever you're passionate about." "If that's a role that I can serve," she said, "it would be my honor to do that." 2019 © The Washington Post This article was originally published by The Washington Post.<doc-sep>On March 29, NASA will have the first all-female spacewalk in the agency's history. Conducting the spacewalk will be astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Koch. On the ground, they will be supported by an all-female crew at Houston's Johnson Space Center.<doc-sep>
(CNN) — For the first time in history, an all-female crew will conduct a spacewalk at the International Space Station, NASA confirmed to CNN. As part of Expedition 59, NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Koch will carry out the spacewalk on March 29. They’ll be supported on the ground by Canadian Space Agency flight controller Kristen Facciol, who will be on the console at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. It was Facciol herself who first tweeted the announcement on March 1, saying: “I just found out that I’ll be on console providing support for the FIRST ALL FEMALE SPACEWALK with @AstroAnnimal and @Astro_Christina and I can not contain my excitement!!!! #WomenInSTEM #WomenInEngineering #WomenInSpace.” I just found out that I’ll be on console providing support for the FIRST ALL FEMALE SPACEWALK with @AstroAnnimal and @Astro_Christina and I can not contain my excitement!!!! #WomenInSTEM #WomenInEngineering #WomenInSpace — Kristen Facciol (@kfacciol) March 1, 2019 “As currently scheduled, the March 29 spacewalk will be the first with only women,” NASA spokeswoman Stephanie Schierholz told CNN in an emailed statement Wednesday. “It is the second in a series of three planned spacewalks. Anne also will join Nick Hague for the March 22 spacewalk. And, of course, assignments and schedules could always change.” “It was not orchestrated to be this way; these spacewalks were originally scheduled to take place in the fall,” Schierholz added. “In addition to the two female spacewalkers, the Lead Flight Director is Mary Lawrence, and Jackie Kagey (also a woman), is the lead EVA (spacewalk) flight controller.” The NASA website shows the spacewalk will last about seven hours. Both McClain and Koch were part of the 2013 astronaut class, half of which were women, and came from the second largest number of applications NASA ever has received – more than 6,100. The most recent class of flight directors was also 50% women, NASA said. Yes buddy, that’s your Mother Earth. Isn’t she beautiful? pic.twitter.com/qY6KDbAIwb — Anne McClain (@AstroAnnimal) March 4, 2019 McClain is currently on the ISS as part of Expedition 58, while Koch is set to blast off on March 14 to reach the station for Expedition 59 and 60 along with Cmdr. Alexey Ovchinin and Flight Engineer Nick Hague. This is going to be the first time in space for McClain and the first spaceflight for Koch. The dawn of a new era in human spaceflight pic.twitter.com/BHsfg1zYLN — Anne McClain (@AstroAnnimal) March 3, 2019 Spacewalks are held for a number of different reasons, according to NASA, including doing work outside a spacecraft, conducting science experiments and testing new equipment. Astronauts also conduct spacewalks to fix satellites or spacecraft that are already in space, instead of having them brought back to Earth to fix.