Astronauts will conduct the first all-female spacewalk on 29 March in a history-making moment. It marks 35 years since Svetlana Savitskaya became the first woman to walk in space on July 25 1984.

NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Koch will carry out the activity as part of the Expedition 59 crew at the International Space Station, along with Canadian Space Agency flight controller, Kristen Facciol serving as console at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, reports Florida Today.

Anne McClainpinterest
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Anne McClain
Christina Kochpinterest
Mikhail Japaridze//Getty Images
Christina Koch


Facciol tweeted her excitement at the news: 'I just found out that I’ll be on console providing support for the FIRST ALL FEMALE SPACEWALK with @AstroAnnimal and @Astro_Christina and I can not contain my excitement!!!! #WomenInSTEM #WomenInEngineering #WomenInSpace'

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Spacewalks are conducted for various reasons, enabling scientists to do science experiments to ascertain how space affects various things and also providing the opportunity to test equipment. They usually last between five and eight hours.

As of 2017, NASA reports that 59 different women total including cosmonauts, astronauts, payload specialists, and foreign nationals have flown in space.

From: Harper's BAZAAR UK
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Ella Alexander
Ella Alexander is Harper’s Bazaar's Deputy Digital Editor. She writes across all sections, covering fashion, arts and feminism – from fashion features and shopping galleries to celebrity interviews and long-form opinion pieces. She lives in South London and has an ardent love for Keith Richards, Gary Barlow, AA Gill, George Orwell and Patti Smith (not in order). Her favourite film is The Labyrinth, mostly because of David Bowie, and she is distinguishable through her self-titled ‘Jeremy Corbyn baker boy hat’. She recently achieved relative fame after the Clooneys named their twins, Ella and Alexander, after her.