Published 11:38 IST, October 19th 2019
NASA: World congratulates the all-women spacewalk astronauts
Two women astronauts from NASA, Christina Koch & Jessica Mier created history, as they ventured into space for a first of its kind, all-women spacewalk.
Two women astronauts from NASA, Christina Koch and Jessica Mier created history on Friday as they ventured into space for a first of its kind, all-women spacewalk. Ivanka Trump, daughter of Donald Trump, has congratulated the two women astronauts for creating history with the first all-female spacewalk. Ivanka took to Twitter to express her happiness. The spacewalk took place outside the International Space Station to replace the battery charge-discharge unit (BCDU). They spent seven hours in the vacuum of space as they replaced the failed power control unit of the International Space Station.
Apart from Ivanka, other eminent women figures such as Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris also expressed their joy on the microblogging website.
Netizens react
Netizens around the world have congratulated the astronauts for their successful spacewalk. Some have even called them as an 'inspiration' for other women in the world.
The relevance of spacewalks
A spacewalk is necessary as the batteries that need to be changed are located in the extreme end of the station’s port truss. Given the complex location of the batteries, the 58-foot (17-meter) long robot arm in the space station is also unable to reach in this place. Thus, many spacewalks are being carried out by the engineers to replace the 12 old nickel-hydrogen batteries with six new lithium-ion batteries.
Updated 13:45 IST, October 19th 2019