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NASA was set to hold its first ever all-female spacewalk on Friday, March 29. But the agency will now be switching out one of the astronauts due to an issue many women face when they walk into a Madewell store: Sizing.
According to a press release from NASA, Anne McClain and Christina Koch were set to be the two astronauts to take part in Friday's spacewalk, but it was recently discovered they would both need medium-size torsos for their suits. The release said, "McClain learned during her first spacewalk that a medium-size hard upper torso–essentially the shirt of the spacesuit–fits her best. Because only one medium-size torso can be made ready by Friday, March 29, Koch will wear it." Now, Koch will be accompanied by astronaut Nick Hague. During the spacewalk, the two will go outside the space station in order to install lithium-ion batteries.
The New York Times reports that McClain originally thought she would be able to wear a large-size torso, but after she completed a spacewalk last week wearing a medium-size torso, she concluded that the medium-size fit her better. While there are two medium-size torsos available, only one has been properly configured for the spacewalk, a process that takes hours of crew labor.
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But Koch still won't be the only women to have a major part in Friday's spacewalk. According to the Times, Mary Lawrence will act as the spacewalk's flight director, and Jackie Kagey will act as its lead officer.
Stephanie Schierholz, a spokesperson for NASA, has said that while there are no current plans for another all-female spacewalk, "we’re sort of getting to the point of inevitability," due to the increasing number of female astronauts at NASA.
Madison is a senior writer/editor at ELLE.com, covering news, politics, and culture. When she's not on the internet, you can most likely find her taking a nap or eating banana bread.
