NASA conducts fifth all-female spacewalk in latest milestone outside the ISS
NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers emerge from the International Space Station to perform history’s 5th ever all-female spacewalk. They completed a 5-hour, 44-minute extravehicular activity (EVA) at 2:49 p.m. EDT (1849 GMT) on May 2, 2025, as per Space.com. The spacewalk was delayed by Mission Control when McClain found strands of string on the index finger of her right glove, according to Associated Press. The spacewalkers prepared the station for a new set of solar panels and shifted an antenna used by cargo vehicles on the 260-mile-high complex.
The space station was raised into a slightly higher orbit before the spacewalk to avoid space junk. The two women took out the tools and equipment from the space station's backbone truss and assembled the attachment hardware for the seventh pair of International Space Station Rollout Solar Arrays, or IROSA. The solar arrays will be attached when they arrive on a SpaceX Dragon commercial resupply services mission. McClain and Ayers moved on to more important tasks after working on the upper triangle of the mast canister modification kit and the right struts.
The mission control at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston relayed that, “We have reached the min config and have decided to clean up and prioritize the C2V2 [Common Communications for Visiting Vehicles].” The equipment was taken to the P3 truss segment, and the antenna of Northrop Grumman's Cygnus cargo vehicles was replaced after McClain repositioned a foot restraint. They wrapped up with Ayers attaching a jumper cable to convert DC power from the U.S. segment to the Russian segment. While McClain freed the bolts on a micro-meteoroid debris cover.
"With this year being the 25th anniversary of a continuous human presence in space, it seems fitting that we are continuing to upgrade the ISS to keep it alive through 2030," Ayers stated as per Space.com. She pointed out the relevance of how studies onboard the space station were not only an addition to our exploration of the Moon and Mars, but also reflected on life on Earth. The space station’s commander, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi, welcomed them after six hours, “Your dinner is ready, so don’t worry about it,” Onishi was quoted as saying by the news agency.
Both McClain and Ayers are military officers and pilots. Being an Army colonel and helicopter pilot, McClain was to take part in the first all-female spacewalk in 2019. However, there was a sizing issue with her spacesuit, and there wasn’t one at hand. The first women-only spacewalk was by astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir. This was the first spacewalk for Air Force Major and former fighter pilot Ayers, while the third EVA for McClain, clocking over 18 hours. They are the only women of the seven astronauts currently living at the space station.
Though men outnumber women in NASA’s astronaut corps, according to Phys Org, things are taking a turn with more women going to space. NASA's Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O'Hara were the second pair to conduct a spacewalk. Christina Koch is also scheduled to fly on the flyby team to the moon as part of the Artemis project, as per Space.com. This spacewalk is the 93rd EVA to be conducted from the U.S. Quest airlock. It is the 275th EVA in support of the assembly, maintenance, and upgrade of the ISS. The space station has now housed astronaut crews continuously since November 2000.
