The first all-female spacewalk is scheduled for this month

By Ashley Strickland, CNN
Updated 4:31 PM ET, Fri October 4, 2019



Astronauts Christina Koch, left and Jessica Meir.

(CNN)After the first all-female spacewalk was scrapped in March, NASA has now scheduled another attempt with astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir for October 21.

The announcement was made Friday during a briefing by the agency previewing 10 upcoming spacewalks by astronauts on the International Space Station.

For the intended spacewalk in March, Koch was going to be paired with astronaut Anne McClain, who has since returned to Earth. In March, NASA cited spacesuit availability as the reason for scrapping the walk. McClain herself made the decision and the teams supported her, Koch said.

"We do our best to anticipate the spacesuit sizes that each astronaut will need, based on the spacesuit size they wore in training on the ground, and in some cases (including Anne McClain's) astronauts train in multiple sizes," Brandi Dean with NASA's public affairs office told CNN in March. "However, individuals' sizing needs may change when they are on orbit, in response to the changes living in microgravity can bring about in a body. In addition, no one training environment can fully simulate performing a spacewalk in microgravity, and an individual may find that their sizing preferences change in space."

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https://us.cnn.com/2019/10/04/world/nasa-koch-meir-first-all-female-spacewalk-scn-trnd/index.html