Unfortunately, NASA has canceled the female EVA, but it's the right decision.

NASA announced Monday afternoon that it had canceled its plan to have astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Koch perform the agency's first spacewalk on Friday. This decision follows McClain's first spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Friday, March 22nd.

"Mission officials decided to adjust the tasks, partly because of the availability of space suits on the station," said the space agency. McClain learned during his first spacewalk that a medium-sized rigid torso – essentially the shirt of the space suit – fit him best, because only one medium-sized torso can be prepared by Friday, March 29th, Koch will wear it. "

Astronaut Nick Hague will dress with Koch this Friday to replace a set of batteries on the outside of the station that store solar energy for use when the station is at it. 39, shadow of the Earth. This decision to replace McClain with The Hague has raised a number of issues, including some conspiracy theories that NASA is incompetent or misogynistic. None of these claims is true, although the space agency has a problem with its space suit inventory and future purchase plans. Let's explore some of the issues raised here.

Why has the EVA really been canceled?

It was really an "appropriate" problem with regard to space suits. After her EVA (Extravehicular Activity) last Friday in a "big" space suit, McClain realized that she would be better able to work in a suit with a medium-sized torso. The torso is a fiberglass hull. If it is not adjusted properly, it is difficult to maneuver the suit and reach the control dials at the front. (Spatial combinations sometimes correspond differently in microgravity than in ground tests).

NASA has four space suits on the International Space Station, according to Jacklyn Kagey, the lead officer of the next spacewalk. Two of these combinations are medium in size, but only one is currently configured for space output (preparing the second would require approximately 12 hours of work). Since Koch also uses a medium-sized suit, NASA planners decided that the safest decision was to let him go through Koch in the middle suit and allow The Hague to participate in a bigger suit.

Does NASA tell the truth?

Yes. I've been doing more or less NASA reporting for almost two decades, including the Space Shuttle. Columbia accident. In such circumstances, I have rarely found that NASA officials had lied to or even shadowed the truth. Most of the time, we are dealing with engineers, who are constantly negotiating the fastest and safest solution, no matter what problem they are facing.

At a briefing to have a glimpse of NASA's next space release, Kenny Todd, head of the station's operations integration, explained that NASA is not going to be able to do anything. had not made a conscious decision to ask two women to conduct an EVA for the first time. "Many circumstances have brought us here," he said. Among these circumstances, there was the fact that NASA had two women in orbit capable of performing demanding EVA tasks. There are also timing issues: NASA wants to make a series of exits in space at the present time, between the recent visit of the Crew Dragon spacecraft and the upcoming missions of supplying them. April.

Todd recalled a discussion on schedules at the end of 2018 with astronaut Kate Rubins, who heads the EVA branch of the crew office. They planned these EVAs and assessed who would be available to lead them.

"I do not know if it was Kate or me, that kind of request:" Have we ever sent two women? "Todd remembered. "Again, it's not something that has jumped on us, because it all starts here with skill and abilities, whether it's a man or a woman. the way we start something, none of this is put together to make it look like something. "

How difficult are EVAs?

The exits in the space are physically demanding. They are dangerous because of the potential impact of micrometeoroids and also because spatial combination problems occur regularly. a costume number for every 10 EVA NASA has done.

Frankly, if McClain was uncomfortable in a great spacesuit, she (and NASA) had the right call here. Former astronaut John Grunsfeld described the fact that moving a voluminous space suit (even in microgravity) for 6 ½ hours and performing various tasks related to running a marathon. Adding a risk due to too much combination would be foolish.

What about NASA's space suit problem?

NASA has a spatial combination problem. A 2017 report from the Inspector General of the agency has listed some of these issues. Notably, the agency's current stock of space suits was designed in 1974 and stolen for the first time in 1981. "Designed for the space shuttle program, each EMU was partially redesigned and completely renovated over the course of 40 years. past years, "says the report.

Of the 18 spacesuits originally produced, 11 remain in use. These combinations are facing up and down the station and are repaired to the ground. NASA provides maintenance for each combination after six years of use of the station or 25 EVA, whichever comes first. "We have a maintenance plan that allows us to continue the program with these particular combinations," Todd said.

The 2017 report criticized the agency's efforts to develop a "new generation" of space suits that would be needed for activities at the Lunar Bridge, orbiting the Moon, the Moon or Mars. Part of the problem is that the destination of NASA's crewed programs has been changed at least three times since 2005 and stewardship issues have also been encountered. As a result, the report revealed that "the agency still has years to have a space suit ready to fly … that can be used for future exploration missions."

Does NASA discriminate against female astronauts?

To the best of our understanding and knowledge, the answer to this question is no. At the time of the Apollo program and even at the beginning of the Space Shuttle program, there were certainly problems with diversity at the space agency, and especially among his body of astronauts.

NASA has taken important steps since then. The space agency sent 45 women into space, and nine of the 20 astronaut candidates from the last two classes of astronauts (2013 and 2017) were women. More than that, women have begun to play a leading role in space flights. The Johnson Space Center, home of NASA's astronaut corps, was led by former astronaut Ellen Ochoa from 2012 to 2018.

And in 2017, Peggy Whitson, who has flown in space three times, broke the record of time spent in space by an American astronaut with a cumulative total of 665 days in orbit aboard the International Space Station. Today, women do not just fly to NASA, they help run the space agency. Hopefully we will soon reach the point where an exclusively female EVA will not be at all worthy of interest.