https://www.businessinsider.sg/nasa...e-to-lack-of-spacesuits-in-right-size-2019-3/
NASA had to cancel the first all-female spacewalk in history because it didn’t have spacesuits in the right size
Tom Murray, Business Insider US
March 26, 2019
AddThis Sharing Buttons
Share to WhatsApp
WhatsAppShare to FacebookFacebookShare to TwitterTwitterShare to LinkedInLinkedInShare to WeChat
WeChat
NASA astronauts Anne McClain (left) and Christina Hammock Koch (right) were due to perform the first all-female spacewalk outside the International Space Station. NASA; Shayanne Gal/Business Insider
Astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Hammock Koch were due to perform a spacewalk to replace some old batteries on the International Space Station (ISS).
Spacewalks, formally called extravehicular activities or EVAs, are routine yet risky operations. During a spacewalk, a pair of astronauts put on bulky spacesuits, step outside the ISS, and work together in the unforgiving vacuum of space.
There have been more than 210 spacewalks over the space station’s 18-year history, and two female crew members have lived aboard the ISS several times before. But this was due to be the first all-female, women-led spacewalk operation ever conducted. Plus, this one happened to be scheduled during Women’s History Month.
The NASA International Space Station. NASA
However, all that has come undone because of a wardrobe issue.
NASA said in a statement on Monday that mission managers had decided to replace McClain with male astronaut Nick Hague, “due in part to spacesuit availability on the station.”
The agency said that a “medium-size hard upper torso – essentially the shirt of the spacesuit” fitted McClain best, however, since there was only one available to wear this Friday, Koch would wear it.
“McClain now is tentatively scheduled to perform her next spacewalk – the third in this series – on Monday, April 8 with Canadian Space Agency astronaut David Saint-Jacques,” NASA said.
At this time, NASA has not yet planned another all-female spacewalk.
Spacesuit fittings are difficult because microgravity results in astronauts getting taller in space – McClain tweeted this month that she was two inches taller in space than when she launched.
The agency also did not intentionally plan the spacewalk to be all-female in the first place.
“It was not orchestrated to be this way,” Stephanie Schierholz, a NASA representative, said in a statement to Business Insider, noting that this particular spacewalk was originally slated to take place in the fall of 2018.
All-women coincidences like this will likely increase going forward, given the future composition of NASA’s new batches of astronauts and its human spaceflight division.
“All three NASA astronauts who will be on the space station are from the 2013 astronaut class that was 50% women. And the most recent class of flight directors was 50% women,” Schierholz said.
Click here to read more about why the ISS needed a battery swap in the first place.
NASA had to cancel the first all-female spacewalk in history because it didn’t have spacesuits in the right size
Tom Murray, Business Insider US
March 26, 2019
AddThis Sharing Buttons
Share to WhatsApp
WhatsAppShare to FacebookFacebookShare to TwitterTwitterShare to LinkedInLinkedInShare to WeChat
- The first all-female spacewalk in history will no longer take place due to a lack of fitting spacesuits.
- NASA said in a statement on Monday that astronaut Anne McClain had been replaced for Friday’s repair mission with Christina Hammock Koch by male astronaut Nick Hague.
- There’s only one upper torso piece that fits Koch or Anne, the agency said, so Koch will use it.
- There have been more than 210 spacewalks over the space station’s 18-year history, but this was due to be the first all-female, women-led spacewalk operation ever conducted.
- NASA has not yet planned another all-female spacewalk.
Astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Hammock Koch were due to perform a spacewalk to replace some old batteries on the International Space Station (ISS).
Spacewalks, formally called extravehicular activities or EVAs, are routine yet risky operations. During a spacewalk, a pair of astronauts put on bulky spacesuits, step outside the ISS, and work together in the unforgiving vacuum of space.
Read more: Every spacesuit NASA astronauts have worn – and the new models that may revolutionize how they explore the solar system
McClain and Koch were due to be supported by two women in Mission Control, too – lead flight director Mary Lawrence and spacewalk flight controller Jackie Kagey.There have been more than 210 spacewalks over the space station’s 18-year history, and two female crew members have lived aboard the ISS several times before. But this was due to be the first all-female, women-led spacewalk operation ever conducted. Plus, this one happened to be scheduled during Women’s History Month.
The NASA International Space Station. NASA
However, all that has come undone because of a wardrobe issue.
NASA said in a statement on Monday that mission managers had decided to replace McClain with male astronaut Nick Hague, “due in part to spacesuit availability on the station.”
The agency said that a “medium-size hard upper torso – essentially the shirt of the spacesuit” fitted McClain best, however, since there was only one available to wear this Friday, Koch would wear it.
“McClain now is tentatively scheduled to perform her next spacewalk – the third in this series – on Monday, April 8 with Canadian Space Agency astronaut David Saint-Jacques,” NASA said.
At this time, NASA has not yet planned another all-female spacewalk.
Spacesuit fittings are difficult because microgravity results in astronauts getting taller in space – McClain tweeted this month that she was two inches taller in space than when she launched.
The agency also did not intentionally plan the spacewalk to be all-female in the first place.
“It was not orchestrated to be this way,” Stephanie Schierholz, a NASA representative, said in a statement to Business Insider, noting that this particular spacewalk was originally slated to take place in the fall of 2018.
All-women coincidences like this will likely increase going forward, given the future composition of NASA’s new batches of astronauts and its human spaceflight division.
“All three NASA astronauts who will be on the space station are from the 2013 astronaut class that was 50% women. And the most recent class of flight directors was 50% women,” Schierholz said.
Click here to read more about why the ISS needed a battery swap in the first place.
- TAGS
