Historic all-women spacewalk cancelled due to suit issues
The very first all-women spacewalk has now been reassigned by NASA, due to an issue with one of the astronaut's suits.
Friday, March 29 was to be a day for the history books, as the very first all-women spacewalk was set to take place.
NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Koch, currently on board the International Space Station, were due to head outside the station for a full day of maintanence work on Friday, assisted on the ground by Kristen Faccio, from the Canadian Space Agency.
This was to be the very first all-women spacewalk in the history of human spaceflight.
It wasn't planned as such. It was simply a coincidence, that McClain and Koch were on the station at this time, and they came up in the rotation for this spacewalk at the same time. Still, this did cause some excitement among those who had been waiting for such an event to finally happen.
Now, though, Nick Hague from NASA will be joining Koch on this week's EVA, with the switch-out happening after McClain decided that she did not feel comfortable in the large-sized spacesuit she had used during her March 22 spacewalk with Hague.
NASA astronauts Nick Hague (upper left) and Anne McClain (centre) upgrade the International Space Station battery system during their March 22, 2019 spacewalk. Credti: NASA
ISSUES WITH SUIT SIZE
According to NASA, while McClain trained using both medium-sized and large-sized spacesuits, and had used a large-sized suit during the March 22 spacewalk, she only discovered then that a medium-sized suit would have been better for her.
With the changes the human body undergoes while in microgravity, specifically how the spine elongates and how body fluids tend to shift into the torso and head, it made sense that McClain figured the larger suit would be better for her, once she was in space. Even with the changes to her body, though, she was uncomfortable performing the work in the larger suit.
Given that they are outside, in the dangerous environment of near-Earth orbit, for over 6 hours, with no break, the astronauts being comfortable with the equipment they are using is extremely important for their safety.
Since there is only one medium-sized suit currently prepped for Friday's spacewalk, McClain recommended that NASA switch out the assignments for this EVA.
Now, McClain will stand down for the March 29 spacewalk, Koch will use the medium-sized suit she was fitted with back on March 21, and Hague will take McClain's spot, using the same suit he wore on March 22.
Anne McClain assists Christina Koch (left) and Nick Hague (right) with the fit of their spacesuits, on board the International Space Station, on March 21, 2019. Credit: NASA
SPACESUIT AVAILABILITY
After receiving plenty of backlash on social media, for what seemed like a fairly obvious thing they should have considered - have more medium spacesuits on the station for women astronauts to use - NASA clarified via Twitter that there is more than one medium-sized spacesuit on board the station.
The issue with having both medium suits available for Friday's spacewalk, apparently, is that it takes a significant amount of time and effort to prepare the second medium spacesuit for an EVA.
NASA spokesperson Stephanie Schierholz elaborated in an email to Gizmodo.com's George Dvorsky.
"The element that came into play here is the hard upper torso," she wrote. "On board the space station we have two medium torsos, two large, and two extra large. However, one of the mediums and one of the extra larges are spares that would require additional time to be configured for a spacewalk. Configuring the spare medium for a spacewalk would take about 12 hours of crew time in space and incurs additional risks, since it exposes the hard upper torso's interfaces with the life support system."
On Twitter, Schierholz said "In this case, it's easier (and faster!) to change spacewalkers than reconfigure the spacesuit."
FULL SCHEDULE
One potential solution to the problem could have been to delay this spacewalk, until the other medium-sized suit could be properly and safely prepared.
Based on the schedule of activities on the station, however, delaying this spacewalk would at least push back the third Expedition 59 spacewalk, currently set to take place on April 8, and it could have had an impact on the timing of upcoming arrivals at the station, as well.
According to SpaceNews.com, Kenny Todd, manager for ISS operations and integration at NASA noted during a March 19 press briefing that there are three separate spacecraft set to arrive in the coming weeks - a Russian Progress cargo spacecraft which is scheduled to launch on April 4, a Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo craft set for an April 17 launch, and SpaceX's next Dragon cargo delivery is slated for sometime in late April.
With so much apparently depending on this spacewalk going forward, as planned and on schedule, the crew swap-out is understandable.
UNDERSTANDABLY FRUSTRATED
Although Anne McClain's safety was ultimately at the core of this decision, there is an understandable amount of frustration being expressed by women in the science, space and scicomm communities.
Mika McKinnon, a field geophysicist, disaster researcher, and science communicator, expressed this frustration well, in an opinion piece she penned for Newsweek.
While she gets it that this was about safety, and there were limited options in this particular case, there's an underlying issue that needs to be addressed.
"I'm frustrated that the same problems I have here on Earth with finding appropriately-sized safety gear during fieldwork is just as much of a problem in space," McKinnon wrote, pointing out the systemic problem for women working in the sciences.
It would seem obvious, with the number of women in the sciences today, that companies would provide a wider range of sizes for field equipment, and that an agency like NASA would ensure there would be enough appropriately-sized spacesuits available - not just on-hand and stored as backup equipment, but immediately available to be pulled off a shelf for use - in case a situation like this came up. Yet, this is simply not the case, and science and human space exploration are suffering for it.
The frustrations being felt aren't just with the equipment issues, though. There still remains a fundamental lack of equality for women in the sciences, and for those going to space, that should have been addressed long ago.
"I'm frustrated that it took fifty years to get a random assignment of two women astronauts to a spacewalk at the same time, and it got scrubbed for something as as arbitrary as the physical size of the astronauts," McKinnon added. "I'm frustrated that I was excited that we'd finally hit such a basic landmark in equality only to need to fight my disappointment when it was canceled for those astronauts' safety. I'm frustrated that I don't know how long it's going to be before we have another chance to see two women spacewalking at the same time."
EVA SCHEDULE
Nick Hague and Christina Koch's March 29 spacewalk will be broadcast live on NASA TV, starting at 6:30 a.m. EDT, with the EVA set to begin at 8:20 a.m. EDT. The two will spend 6.5 hours outside the station, continuing the work Hague and McClain started a week before, by swapping out older nickel-hydrogen batteries for new lithium-ion batteries, to upgrade the station's power systems.
The third and final spacewalk for Expedition 59 is currently scheduled on April 8, for Anne McClain and Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques to upgrade the Canadarm2 with a redundant power cables, as well as upgrading the wireless communications coverage for the outside of the station.
