NASA Astronaut Anne McClain completes 5th all-female spacewalk on May 1

• NASA astronaut Anne McClain has completed her space mission on May 1, 2025.
• She was accompanied by another fellow astronaut Nichole Ayers on the mission.
• The duo left the International Space Station for a scheduled spacewalk.

On May 1, 2025, NASA astronaut Anne McClain completed her long-waited mission since she missed the primary all-female spacewalk because of her spacesuit fit issue. Joined by a fellow astronaut Nichole Ayers, both of them departed the International Space Station (ISS) for a scheduled spacewalk.

Two of them are honoured military officers and certified pilots. Arriving at ISS in March 2025, they replaced two astronauts who came back to Earth early. This particular spacewalk will be Anne’s third one and Nichole’s first one.

In addition, Anne has reported a loose string on her index finger of the right glove, as per the Associated Press. Soon after, Mission Control shortly halted the operation for inspecting the issue while later confirming the glove was absolutely safe and allowed the astronauts to move on with their mission.

The duo performed multiple tasks that includes new solar arrays installation, antenna — repositioning which are all the part of progressive upgrades to the power systems of ISS.

The excursion, that took place on Thursday, marks as only the fifth all-female spacewalk in the history of extravehicular activity (EVA) of 60 years. Women still remain underrepresented in the astronaut corps of NASA even after so much of progress, having just 20 females out of 47 active astronauts.

Moreover, the ISS was reported to be slightly elevated in orbit prior to the spacewalk in order to avoid space debris from Chinese rocket aged 20 years old.