NASA has nixed the first all-female spacewalk over a spacesuit sizing issue.

 

美国航天局因太空服的尺寸问题取消了首次全女性太空行走。

 

Astronaut Anne McClain was supposed to float out of the International Space Station on Friday with newly arrived Christina Koch, to replace old batteries. But McClain pulled herself from the lineup because there's not enough time to get two medium suits ready for them. Koch will go out with a male crewmate, Nick Hague.

 

NASA spokeswoman Brandi Dean said Tuesday that McClain trained before flight in both medium and large spacesuits. She wore a medium when she went out on her first spacewalk last Friday and was supposed to switch to a large this week. But after last week's spacewalk, she decided¹ that a large would be too big.

 

It would have taken 12 hours to get another medium spacesuit ready and potentially compromised safety, according to Dean. These spacewalks are months late, and with cargo² deliveries coming up, NASA wants to keep everything on track.

 

In 54 years of spacewalking, women have only gone outside with men. That's because men have always outnumbered women in space. As women continue to make up a greater percentage of the astronaut corps³, more gender⁴ records will be set and not just in spacewalking, Dean noted⁵.

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