全女性宇航员太空行走创造了历史，NASA：不是有意安排

7小时17分钟——这是人类历史上首次全女性宇航员行走在太空的时间。

美国东部时间10月18日上午7时38分，美国宇航员克里斯蒂娜·科赫（Christina Koch）和杰西卡·梅尔（Jessica Meir）身着白色宇航服缓缓走出国际空间站，她们的下方，是人类所在的蓝色星球。

据CNN报道，此次太空行走进展顺利，科赫和梅尔成功更换了一个出现故障的电池装置。

U.S. astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir on Friday stepped outside the International Space Station (ISS) to conduct the first all-female spacewalk in history.

The much-anticipated milestone for NASA was achieved during a relatively routine mission to swap faulty batteries on the station's exterior.

At 7:38 a.m. ET (1138 GMT), the spacewalk officially started as the two astronauts set their spacesuits to battery power, marking the beginning of their excursion outside of the space station to replace a failed power controller, according to NASA.

The mission was earlier scheduled to be carried out in March. However, it was canceled due in part to spacesuit availability on the station.

这是科赫第四次进行太空行走，对于梅尔来说，是第一次。

克里斯蒂娜·科赫，40岁

第14位进行太空行走的女性

硕士学位：电子工程学

兴趣爱好：远足野营、攀岩、帆船运动、跑步、瑜伽、摄影

杰西卡·梅尔，42岁

第15位进行太空行走的女性

硕士学位：太空科学 

博士学位：海洋生物学

兴趣爱好：滑雪、登山、跑步、骑自行车、足球、水肺潜水、私人飞行员

在太空行走的过程中还发生了一个小插曲。

图：NASA

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普和两位宇航员通了话，他说：

"... We're thrilled to be speaking live with two brave American astronauts who are making history ... This is the first time for a woman outside of the space station ... I just want to congratulate you, what you do is incredible, you're very brave people ..."

梅尔澄清说这是首次全女性太空行走，因为此前已经有很多女性宇航员进行了太空行走：

We don't want to take too much credit because there have been many other female spacewalkers before us. This is just the first time that there have been two women outside at the same time, and it's really interesting for us ... this is really just us doing our jobs. It's something we've been training for, for six years.

图：NASA

NASA表示，太空行走任务安排看重的是哪些宇航员在当时的条件下最能胜任，这次全女性行走并非有意安排——随着女性宇航员数量的增加，这本就是会自然发生的事。

图：杰西卡·梅尔推特

但这次的“无心安排”的确是“历史性”的，科赫说：

… I think it's important because of the historical nature of what we're doing. In the past women haven't always been at the table. It's wonderful to be contributing to the space program at a time when all contributions are being accepted, when everyone has a role. That can lead in turn to increased chance for success.

There are a lot of people who derive motivation from inspiring stories of people who look like them, and I think it's an important story to tell.

截止目前，国际空间站总共开展了221次太空行走，参与太空行走的228人中，仅15人为女性。

1965年，苏联宇航员阿列克谢·列昂诺夫（Alexei Leonov）进行了人类历史上首次太空行走。

图：spacefacts.de

而首位女性宇航员太空行走发生在近二十年后——1984年，俄罗斯宇航员斯维特拉娜·萨维特斯卡娅（Svetlana Savitskaya）和一名男性宇航员一起进行了太空行走。

It has been 35 years since Russian Svetlana Savitskaya became the first woman to conduct a spacewalk. The astronaut went outside the USSR's Salyut 7 space station for three hours, 35 minutes on July 25, 1984.

In total, there have been 15 female spacewalkers, including Christina Koch and Jessica Meir. 

Christina Koch, who joined the ISS earlier this year, is slated to set a record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman with an expected total of 328 days in space.