A brief history of spacewalks

NASA completed its 200th spacewalk on the International Space Station. Astronauts Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer spent more than four hours repairing parts of the ISS.

Over 200 astronauts have been in the vacuum of space.

March 18, 1965: The first was Russian cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov. Leonov steps out of Voskhod-2 and floats in space for over 12 minutes. His suit expanded in space and had to be deflated to fit back in the ship.

June 3, 1965: The second spacewalker—and first American—was Ed White. His extravehicular activity (EVA) lasted for 23 minutes. Ed White after being told to end his spacewalk: “This is the saddest moment of my life.”

NASA learned that moving slowly and deliberately is crucial to a successful spacewalk.

February 7, 1984: Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart perform the first “untethered” spacewalk. It went on for five hours and 55 minutes.

July 25, 1984: The first woman to perform a spacewalk was Svetlana Savitskaya. Her EVA was three hours and 35 minutes long.

March 11, 2001: Susan Helms and James S. Voss set the record for longest EVA. They were in space for eight hours and 56 minutes.

Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Solovyev has spent more than three days on EVA missions. time outside a spacecraft than any other human. He’s performed 16 spacewalks—more than any other human.

Peggy Whitson has done more spacewalks than any woman—and most other astronauts. The 200th I.S.S. spacewalk was her ninth

Far out.