NASA is expediting the first all-female spacewalk to later this week because of a power system failure at the International Space Station.
Astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir will now venture out on either Thursday or Friday instead of next Monday to deal with the problem.
It will be the first spacewalk by only women in more than a half-century of spacewalking.
A critical battery power controller failed over the weekend, prompting the change, NASA officials said Monday.
The women will replace the broken component, rather than install new batteries, which was their original job.
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Last week, astronauts conducted two spacewalks to replace old batteries that make up the station's solar power network.
They have three more spacewalks to go before finishing the battery work. The next one was supposed to be Wednesday, but has been postponed for now.
Each of the new lithium-ion batteries needs a device to regulate the amount of charge going in and out. One of these charge regulators did not kick in Friday night, preventing one of the three newly installed batteries from working. Replacing one of these regulators is a generic job for which all potential spacewalkers train, officials said.
Although 15 women have performed a spacewalk, each time they were accompanied by their male colleagues.
The American space agency had previously set a day back in March for this all-female endeavor, but had to cancel the event due to a lack of properly fitted spacesuits.
NASA originally planned an all-female spacewalk last spring, but had to cancel it because of a shortage of readily available medium-size suits. Koch helped assemble an extra medium suit over the summer.
'Very good that we have 4 expert spacewalkers on board to shoulder this tough task. They are the A-team!' tweeted astronaut Anne McClain, who would have gone spacewalking with Koch in March if not for the suit-sizing issue.
Since the first spacewalk in 1965, there have been 227 spacewalkers, only 14 of them women. Meir will be making her first spacewalk and become No. 15. All but one of these women has been American.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
