UC San Diego alumna Jessica Meir is expected to participated in NASA's first all-female spacewalk Friday to replace a faulty power unit outside the International Space Station.
Meir and Christina Koch replaced a battery charge/discharge unit that failed to activate after new lithium-ion batteries were installed on the space station's exterior structure on Oct. 11, according to NASA.
Meir will be extravehicular crew member 2 wearing the suit with no stripes. Koch will be extravehicular crew member 1 wearing the spacesuit with the red stripes.
Meir is the 15th woman to walk in space and 14th American woman. It was the 43rd spacewalk to include at least one woman, according to NASA.
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Cmdr. Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency and NASA flight engineer Andrew Morgan will assist the spacewalkers. Parmitano will control the Canadarm2 robotics arm and Morgan will provide airlock and spacesuit support.
The spacewalk was being livestreamed on NASA's website.
Meir flew to space aboard the Russian Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft late last month for the first time and is expected to spend roughly six months aboard the ISS to conduct research. She is expected to make a second spacewalk later this month.
Meir earned a doctorate from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 2009 and was selected as an astronaut in 2013.
