NASA astronauts Jessica Meir (left) and Christina Koch are pictured during a spacewalk to finalize upgrading power systems on the International Space Station's Port-6 truss structure.
Credit: JSC

May 27, 2025

Sixty years ago, an American astronaut walked in space for the first time. At 3:45 pm on June 3, 1965, Ed White opened the hatch of the Gemini 4 mission and propelled himself into space. Flight Commander James McDivitt photographed White tethered to the capsule. After 23 minutes and an order from Chris Kraft at Cap Comm, White re-entered the craft, saying, “This is the saddest moment of my life.”

A memento of his joyous walk is immortalized with White’s picture encoded in the Voyager Spacecraft’s famous Golden Record, which currently sails through the cosmos.

On October 18, 2019, at 2:55 pm EDT, astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir concluded the repair of a power unit on the International Space Station. The seven-hour-seventeen-minute EVA (extra-vehicular activity) made history as the first all-female spacewalk.

Women have participated in spacewalks since 1984. Koch and Meir’s spacewalk was the 43^rd time women participated in EVAs, but a previously planned all-female EVA had been suspended due to space suit sizing. A last-minute discovery found there weren’t two correctly sized spacesuits aboard the ISS, delaying the historic female duo until NASA sent up another medium spacesuit.

Christina Koch holds the record for the longest single space flight by a woman, 328 days, and is about to embark on another first as a member of NASA’s Artemis 2 Mission moon crew.

Are you as fascinated by the night sky as we are?

Join us for SkyWatch: Carnegie Science Center’s monthly opportunity to catch a glimpse of the stars with professional telescopes. Get a great view of the Pittsburgh skyline as you stargaze with other space enthusiasts. Plus, watch a feature show at the Buhl Planetarium and participate in fun, astronomy-themed activities.