Watch 2 NASA astronauts perform the 5th-ever all-female spacewalk today

U.S. Spacewalk 93 - YouTube

Two NASA astronauts will conduct the fifth all-female spacewalk in history today (May 1), and you can watch the action live.

Nichole Ayers and Anne McClain will head outside the International Space Station (ISS) today at 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT), kicking off a spacewalk expected to last about 6.5 hours.

You can watch the extravehicular activity (EVA) live here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA, or directly via the agency. Coverage will begin at 6:30 a.m. EDT (1030 GMT).

closeup of a smiling woman in a spacesuit conducting a spacewalk outside the international space station, with the sun and curve of earth in the background — NASA astronaut Anne McClain conducts a spacewalk outside the International Space Station on March 22, 2019. (Image credit: NASA)

Ayers and McClain "will relocate a space station communications antenna and install a mounting bracket ahead of the installation of an additional set of International Space Station Rollout Solar Arrays, also called IROSA," NASA officials wrote in a spacewalk preview.

"The arrays will boost power generation capability by up to 30%, increasing the station’s total available power from 160 kilowatts to up to 215 kilowatts," they added. "The arrays will be installed on a future spacewalk following their arrival on a SpaceX Dragon commercial resupply services mission later this year."

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This will be just the fifth all-female spacewalk, and the first one since November 2023. The very first female-only EVA was conducted by NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir in October 2019.

Today's spacewalk will be the third for McClain, the first for Ayers and the 275th overall in the history of the ISS. Both women arrived at the orbiting lab on March 16 on SpaceX's Crew-10 mission.

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Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.

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