By AFPMore by this AuthorWashingtonUS astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir became the first all-female pairing to carry out a spacewalk Friday, following a spacesuit flub earlier this year that caused the historic mission to be aborted. "Christina, you may egress the airlock," spacecraft communicator Stephanie Wilson told the pair shortly after they set out to replace a power controller on the International Space Station at 1138 GMT. They began their mission making standard safety checks on their suits and tethers, before making their way to the repair site. Koch, an electrical engineer, was leading Meir, who holds a doctorate in marine biology and is making her first ever spacewalk. The spacewalk comes as Nasa plans to return to the Moon by 2024 under the Artemis mission, named for the twin sister of Apollo in Greek mythology.

Source: Daily Nation October 18, 2019 12:45 UTC