Updated
In a giant leap for womankind, two women have conducted a spacewalk together for the first time in history.
Key points:
- The spacewalk lasted more than seven hours
- Both Ms Koch and Ms Meir were selected as astronaut candidates in 2013
- Ms Koch is currently trying to set a new record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman, an expected total of 328 days in space
NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch embarked on their mission outside of the International Space Station to replace a faulty battery charge/discharge unit.
The spacewalk made Ms Meir the 15th woman overall to complete one and 14th US woman to do so.
It was the fourth spacewalk for Ms Koch.
'Just doing our job'
While the mission etched the astronauts' places in the history books, Ms Meir was more focused on the task at hand.During a congratulatory call from the White House, she paid homage to the women who had come before her.
"We don't want to take too much credit because there have been many others — female spacewalkers — before us," she told US President Donald Trump.
"This is just the first time that there have been two women outside at the same time.
"For us, this is really just us doing our job."
While orbiting over the U.S., spacewalkers @Astro_Christina Koch and @Astro_Jessica are returning the failed power controller to the Quest airlock. The device will be returned to Earth on a future @SpaceX #Dragon cargo mission for inspection. https://www.nasa.gov/live
The pair were able to extend their mission to complete some "get-ahead tasks" on top the the battery replacement, with the spacewalk lasting seven hours and 17 minutes.
Mission control activated the newly installed battery unit which, according to a NASA statement, is operating properly.
NASA live streamed the event on its YouTube account.
NASA's website said, "astronauts typically describe them as the most physically challenging thing they do".
This was not the first time US astronauts have attempted to conduct an all-female spacewalk.
Back in March this year, NASA was forced to cancel a spacewalk that would have included Ms Koch and fellow astronaut Anne McClain.
It did not go ahead because their spacesuits were not properly fitted.
Both Ms Koch and Ms Meir were selected as astronaut candidates in 2013 on their first spaceflight.
'Hopefully this will now be considered normal'
NASA leaders and others around the world have cheered Ms Koch and Ms Meir on.
At the same time, many noted that this will hopefully become routine in the future. America's first female spacewalker from 35 years ago, Kathy Sullivan, was delighted.
"It's good to finally have enough women in the astronaut corps and trained for spacewalking for this to happen," Ms Sullivan said earlier this week.
"We've got qualified women running the control, running space centres, commanding the station, commanding spaceships and doing spacewalks.Tracy Caldwell Dyson, a three-time spacewalker who watched from Mission Control, added: "Hopefully, this will now be considered normal."
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine watched the big event unfold from NASA headquarters in Washington.
"We have the right people doing the right job at the right time," he said.
"They are an inspiration to people all over the world including me. And we're very excited to get this mission underway."
Ms Koch and Ms Meir were supposed to install more new batteries in a spacewalk next week, but had to venture out three days earlier to deal with an equipment failure that occurred over the weekend.
"Jessica and Christina, we are so proud of you. You're going to do great today," fellow astronaut Andrew Morgan radioed from inside as the women exited the hatch.
Ms Koch is going to remain in space for an extended duration mission of 11 months, which will set a new record for longest single spaceflight by a woman. It's an expected total of 328 days in space.
She will also provide researchers the opportunity to observe the effects of a long-duration spaceflight on a woman to prepare for human missions to the Moon and Mars.
ABC/AP
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