Astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Koch will be aided on the ground by flight directors Mary Lawrence and Kristen Facciol in Houston.
ADVERTISEMENTKicking off Women's History Month, NASA announced Tuesday that its first-ever all female spacewalk will take place later this month.
The March 29 spacewalk will feature astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Koch, who will be aided on the ground by flight directors Mary Lawrence and Kristen Facciol in Houston.
McClain and Koch were both chosen from NASA's 2013 astronaut candidate class, the second highest number of applicants that NASA has ever received. As part of the class, they received technical training at space centers to prepare for missions involving low-Earth orbits, asteroids and Mars.
In the past, spacewalks have been mostly conducted by male astronauts, with the help of some female team members. And they usually occur when astronauts need to make mechanical repairs or test equipment in space, which typically last about five to eight hours.
Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to make it to space in 1963. Sally Ride was the first American woman to arrive in space, with her male crew members in 1983.
This will be McClain's first time in space and Koch's first spacewalk.