NASA cancels all-female spacewalk due to wrong size spacesuits

Published: 
Agence France-Presse
Listen to this article

The US space agency can only have one medium-size spacesuit ready by Friday on the International Space Station

Agence France-Presse |
Published: 
Comment

Latest Articles

Improving concentration and relaxation is a walk in the park – with a dog

Climate change, urbanisation lead to early flowering of cherry blossom trees

Tatler to give fans 50% ticket refund for Messi’s Hong Kong no-show by May

An intense smell from a rare corpse flower attracts visitors in San Francisco

Hong Kong grocery chain DCH goes out of business after 39 years

Hong Kong logs coldest start to March since 2016

Astronaut Anne McClain will not be spacewalking with Koch because of a lack of properly fitting spacesuits.

The US space agency NASA cancelled on Monday a planned historic spacewalk by two women astronauts, citing a lack of available spacesuits that would fit them at the International Space Station.

Christina Koch will now perform tasks in space on Friday with fellow American Nick Hague - instead of Anne McClain as originally planned.

Had Koch and McClain done their spacewalk together, it would have been the first ever by two women astronauts.

HKUST to build a super space camera that will allow scientists to study objects so far away they were previously undetectable

Until now, male-only or mixed male-female teams had conducted spacewalks since the space station was assembled in 1998 - 214 spacewalks until now.

McClain worked outside the station last week - with Hague - when she realised that a “medium”-sized upper half of her spacesuit fit her better.

“Because only one medium-size torso can be made ready by Friday, March 29, Koch will wear it,” NASA explained.

The spacesuits aboard the ISS are in fact assemblies of several parts put together as best adapted to each astronaut’s body, explained Brandi Dean, spokeswoman for the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas where American astronauts are based.

NASA astronaut Christina Koch will be doing the spacewalk on Friday with a male colleague.
Photo: AFP

She said two upper parts in each of the three available spacesuit sizes are currently held on the ISS: medium, large and extra large.

“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 astronauts train in multiple sizes,” she said in explaining the problem that hampered Friday’s planned spacewalk.

“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.”

Sign up for the YP Teachers Newsletter
Get updates for teachers sent directly to your inbox
By registering, you agree to our T&C and Privacy Policy
Comment