NASA astronaut Anne McClain during a spacewalk on March 22, 2019
Cries of discrimination and jokes about gender dominated social media Tuesday (March 26) after NASA announced it would cancel the first all-female spacewalk planned for this week.
The reason, actually, was a simple matter of safety.
What happened?
Originally, rookie astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Koch were supposed to head “outside” the International Space Station to install lithium-ion batteries for one of the station’s solar array pairs. It’s the sort of work that’s crucial to the station operations, because without power, astronauts cannot run experiments — nor do basic functions such as eating or even breathing.
However, McClain took her first spacewalk on March 22 (along with fellow rookie astronaut Nick Hague) and discovered that the large suit torso size she used didn’t fit her in space. Astronaut bodies stretch in space due to a lack of gravity, and working in microgravity is different than working even in a pool, so last-minute adjustments sometimes are needed to suit size.
As responsible astronauts do, McClain disclosed her suit size issue to the ground, and NASA made an operational decision to split the female spacewalking assignments into two extra-vehicular activities instead of one since only one medium-size torso is available for use — a size that both McClain and Koch would need to use simultaneously.
“McClain learned during her first spacewalk that a medium-size hard upper torso – essentially the shirt of the spacesuit – fits her best. Because only one medium-size torso can be made ready by Friday, March 29, Koch will wear it,” NASA said in a statement.
