All-Female NASA Team Set To Be Next Spacewalkers; Member Praises Musk's Space Achievement

An all-female team of astronauts will carry out a spacewalk on March 29 at the International Space Station (ISS).

NASA and spaceflight in general continue to see new milestones happen as an all-female crew is set to do a spacewalk just after the successful launch of Elon Musk's Crew Dragon space capsule. Musk's Crew Dragon docked on the ISS recently, but it carried no people on board, just a female crash-test dummy named Ripley. This time, real women will walk out of the ISS.

The second spacewalk in the planned series of three will comprise NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Koch. Both astronauts were part of the Expedition 59 and the 2013 astronaut class. Canadian Space Agency flight controller Kristen Facciol will support the astronauts from the ground, managing the console at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The announcement came from Facciol's tweet on March 1.

"I just found out that I'll be on console providing support for the FIRST ALL FEMALE SPACEWALK with @AstroAnnimal and @Astro_Christina and I can not contain my excitement!!!! #WomenInSTEM #WomenInEngineering #WomenInSpace," Facciol wrote.

McClain, who will also do a spacewalk on March 22, also shed light on the Crew Dragon's recent achievement.

"Our sincere congrats to all earthlings who have enabled the opening of this next chapter in space exploration," McClain said during a welcoming ceremony for Crew Dragon.

On March 2, the Crew Dragon launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. It lifted off to space using SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket.

"And congratulations to all nations, private space firms, and individuals who wake up every day driven by the magic of exploration. This day belongs to all of us," she added.

NASA spokeswoman Stephanie Schierholz confirmed with CNN through an email that the scheduled spacewalk on March 29 is indeed the first in history to feature only women. She did say that schedules and assignments could vary always. The scheduled spacewalks were supposed to take place in the fall.

"In addition to the two female spacewalkers, the Lead Flight Director is Mary Lawrence, and Jackie Kagey (also a woman), is the lead EVA (spacewalk) flight controller," Schierholz said.